Selling a house in Missouri: the paperwork

Every document a Missouri sale commonly touches, who usually produces it, and the law behind it. In most sales the seller's own share is small, and this page shows you which part that usually is.

Keighbor keeps every one of these in one place, filled in on screen and signed by everyone.

Set up my Room See how it works

Free to set up. No credit card. Nothing starts a clock.

12 documents · 9 questions · about a 10 minute read · free, and we don't ask for your email

5documents are usually the seller's

out of 12 in a Missouri sale

Tell us about your sale

Answer what you know. Skip what you don't. Every answer takes something off your list or explains why it stays on.

The home

Was the home built before 1978?

Older homes carry a federal lead paint disclosure. It's the same in every state.

Is the home in an HOA, condo, or co-op?

The association has to produce a package, and they can take weeks. Worth knowing early.

Is there a well or septic system?

Private water and sewer get their own questions, and sometimes their own inspection.

You and the title

Are you married?

Some states need a spouse's signature even when they're not on the title. Many don't.

Did you inherit the home, or is it in probate?

How the home came to you decides which deed you can sign.

Do you file U.S. taxes as a citizen or resident?

If you don't, the buyer has to hold back part of the price and send it to the IRS.

Will you be at the closing yourself?

Signing from a distance takes a power of attorney, and it has to be arranged early.

Its history

Is there work on the house that was never permitted, or a permit still open?

An open permit can stop a closing. Closing one out takes time you'll want in hand.

Has there been mold, structural repair, or environmental testing here?

What you know, you generally have to say. What you don't know, you don't have to go find.

Usually the seller's to produce

In most sales nobody else prepares these. Whether each one applies to you depends on your home, your title, and your buyer.

Purchase & sale agreementIn PSA
Meth-production disclosure (§ 442.606)Attached to PSA / pre-listingOn your list because has there been mold, structural repair, or environmental testing here
Federal lead-based paint disclosureAttached to PSAOn your list because was the home built before 1978
Seller's property condition disclosure (voluntary MO REALTORS® form)Pre-listing packet
FIRPTA certification (non-foreign affidavit)Closing packet

Usually drafted for you to sign

These commonly arrive already written. Read them, and ask about anything that looks wrong before you sign.

General warranty deedClosing packet; recorded post-closing

Usually somebody else's to prepare

Commonly handled by a title company, an attorney, a lender, or the county. Listed so none of them is a surprise.

Title commitment / title insuranceClosing packet
Payoff / mortgage satisfaction (deed of release)Closing/post-closing
HOA/POA resale disclosuresHOA resale packetOn your list because is the home in an hoa, condo, or co-op, or will you be at the closing yourself
St. Louis City occupancy/HCD inspection certificateMunicipal certificate
Settlement statement / Closing DisclosureClosing packet
1099-SPost-closing

Want this list kept for you?

Keighbor turns it into your actual steps, in order, with the deadlines on a calendar and somewhere to keep every signed copy. We're still building checkout, so setting up your room is free right now.

Set up my roomFree. No credit card.

What catches Missouri sellers out

The things people find out late here. None of this is a ruling on your sale, and every one of them ends with somebody who can actually answer it for you.

Both spouses may need to sign, even on a solely titled home

Missouri's homestead rule can void a conveyance signed by only one spouse, and it is often described online as a protection against creditors, which understates it. It is a signature question as much as a bankruptcy one. The exemption figure also changes at the start of 2027.

The rule behind it: Mo. Rev. Stat. § 513.475(2)
Who can answer it: Your title company. Tell them your marital status before the deed is drafted.

Known prior meth production has to be disclosed in writing

Missouri has a specific written disclosure duty about known prior methamphetamine production on the property. It applies to what the seller knows, not to what they could have found out. Missouri had more lab incidents than anywhere else in the country for a long stretch, so it is not a rare question there.

The rule behind it: Mo. Rev. Stat. § 442.606
Who can answer it: A Missouri attorney if there is any history you are unsure about.

St. Louis City requires an occupancy inspection before transfer

St. Louis City runs a Housing Conservation District inspection that covers the whole city and carries a fee. Several surrounding municipalities have their own versions with different rules. A city inspection requirement can hold up a closing that otherwise looked ready.

The rule behind it: St. Louis City Housing Conservation District ordinance
Who can answer it: The city or municipality your address sits in. Ask what they need and how long it takes.

How Missouri generally runs a sale

The broad shape of a sale there, as the research found it. Counties and cities add their own rules on top of all of this.

Closing structureMissouri is a title/escrow state. Title companies commonly conduct residential closings; attorneys frequently participate but are not statutorily required.

Marital propertyMissouri is NOT a community-property state; it is a common-law/equitable-distribution state (Mo. Rev. Stat.

HomesteadMo. Rev. Stat. § 513.475. The exemption is $15,000 per household (not per spouse; married couples cannot double it), a figure unchanged since a 2003 amendment.

Dower/curtesyAbolished in Missouri.

Standard deedGeneral warranty deed. Statutory "grant, bargain and sell" language (§ 442.420) imports implied covenants.

Disclosure regimeCAVEAT EMPTOR with a fraud/misrepresentation judicial gloss. No general statutory seller-disclosure form; the Missouri REALTORS® Seller Disclosure form is voluntary/customary, not mandated.

Transfer taxMissouri has NO state real estate transfer tax and no documentary stamp. Recording fees only.

RONAuthorized by HB 1655 (2020); Mo. Rev. Stat. §§ 486.1100–486.1205; effective August 28, 2020. The Secretary of State approves software and maintains standards (§ 486.1115);

Recording actRace-notice (Mo. Rev. Stat. §§ 442.390 [notice from time of filing], 442.400 [instrument "not valid, except between the parties … and such as have actual notice," until deposited for record]...

Recording officeCounty Recorder of Deeds.

Notable overlaysSt. Louis City Housing Conservation District occupancy inspection (100% of the city); St. Louis County unincorporated occupancy permits; § 442.606 meth-production disclosure;

Other things Missouri asks about

These come up in Missouri and almost nowhere else. We don't ask them above because we can't answer them for you yet, but they're worth raising with your title company.

Any other municipal occupancy / point-of-sale inspection requirement (many STL-region municipalities — e.g., Ballwin, Lake Saint Louis)?
Does the property have a tornado safe room / storm shelter (grant-funded shelters may carry registration/easement conditions)?

Before you rely on any of this

This is a compilation of published state requirements, not legal advice, and no lawyer has reviewed it or your sale. Laws and forms change, counties and cities add their own rules, and whether any of this applies to you depends on facts we don't know. Treat every item as a starting point for a question, not as an answer. Confirm anything you plan to rely on against the official source we link, and run your list past a title company or an attorney licensed in your state.

These counts describe a typical sale, not yours. Which documents you need turns on facts about your home, your title, your buyer, and your county, and one unusual answer can add several or remove them.

Who prepares each document is what usually happens, not a rule. Practice differs between states, between counties, and between one title company and the next, and your contract can move work from one side to the other.

Keighbor is not a real estate brokerage and does not represent you. Nobody here is your agent. We don't negotiate, set your price, recommend a course of action, or take a commission. We provide software that helps you organize your side of the sale.

The full Missouri reference

The rest of the research, with every citation kept. This is the same material our own product is built on, and nothing is held back for paying customers. It describes the law as the research found it, not as it applies to your sale.

ALWAYS-Required Documents

Deed (general warranty deed). Mo. Rev. Stat. §§ 442.020–442.130, 442.420. Must identify grantor/grantee, recite consideration, contain the legal description, be signed by grantor(s), and be acknowledged before a notary (§§ 442.150–442.210). [SELLER]/[TITLE]. Recorded with the county Recorder of Deeds. Consequence of non-recording: valid between the parties but not against subsequent bona fide purchasers without notice (§ 442.400). How to find it: county Recorder of Deeds (each of Missouri's 114 counties plus the City of St. Louis).
Acknowledgment/notarization. Required for recording; RON permitted (§§ 486.1100–486.1205).
Settlement statement / Closing Disclosure. Federal TRID for financed deals. [TITLE/ESCROW].
Spousal joinder on homestead. § 513.475(2). If the property is a homestead and the seller is married, both spouses must execute the deed or the conveyance is "null and void." [SELLER].

SOMETIMES-Required Documents (Triggered)

Trigger: knowledge of prior meth production → § 442.606 written disclosure to buyer. [SELLER].
Trigger: pre-1978 housing → federal lead-based paint disclosure (Title X). [SELLER].
Trigger: property in St. Louis City → Housing Conservation District inspection / occupancy permit (Ordinance No. 71835). [GOV/TAX].
Trigger: unincorporated St. Louis County → occupancy permit inspection at change of occupant (ordinance effective for sale homes July 2007). [COUNTY].
Trigger: HOA/POA → governing documents, dues/assessment statements, resale certificate. [HOA].
Trigger: non-resident/foreign seller → FIRPTA withholding (26 U.S.C. § 1445).
Trigger: private well/septic (rural) → county health inspection may apply. [COUNTY].
Trigger: TBE/entirety property, married → both spouses execute the deed (§ 442.030).

Prescribed-Language Items (Substance-Over-Form)

§ 442.606 (meth disclosure): The statute requires that, where a parcel "is or was used as a site for methamphetamine production" and the seller "had knowledge of such prior methamphetamine production," the seller "shall disclose in writing to the buyer or transferee the fact that methamphetamine was produced on the premises … regardless of whether the persons involved in the production were convicted." No specific form is prescribed — an FSBO seller satisfies it with a signed, dated written statement delivered to the buyer. This is content-specific, not form-specific.
§ 442.420 "grant, bargain and sell": Use of these operative words in a deed imports statutory covenants of seisin, against encumbrances, and quiet enjoyment. An FSBO seller using a general warranty deed with this language conveys the implied covenants; a seller wishing to limit covenants must use a special/quitclaim form.
Federal lead paint: Title X language (cross-reference § 10).
Missouri does NOT statutorily prescribe PSA property-condition disclosure language (caveat emptor). A non-Realtor/FSBO seller has no verbatim-language PSA obligation for condition, but should disclose known material latent defects to avoid Hess-type fraud exposure.

Local / Municipal Overlays

St. Louis City: 100% of the city sits in a Housing Conservation District; Ordinance No. 71835 requires an HCD inspection (a basic International Property Maintenance Code interior/exterior code inspection) upon change of occupancy. Owner-occupied properties are exempt from the three-year rental reinspection cycle. Under procedures effective October 7, 2024, the application fee is exactly $120.00, rising to $200.00 if a resident is found occupying a dwelling that lacks a current certificate of inspection. Process runs through the Building Division (1200 Market St., City Hall).
St. Louis County (unincorporated): occupancy-permit inspection at change of occupant (ordinance effective for sale homes July 2007). Incorporated municipalities set their own fees — e.g., St. Ann charges $30.00 with inspections valid 120 days absent a move — illustrating the layered STL-region fee structure. Verify per municipality.
STL-region municipalities: many (Ballwin, Lake Saint Louis, etc.) require a certificate of compliance/occupancy before sale or new occupancy. Verify per municipality; these ordinances change frequently.
Kansas City, MO: property maintenance code (Chapter 56) and building code (Chapter 18/KCBRC); no general point-of-sale owner-transfer occupancy-inspection mandate comparable to STL City — verify current ordinance.
No Missouri city imposes a municipal real estate transfer tax.
Meth context (why § 442.606 matters): Missouri "led the nation in meth lab incidents every year since 2003," peaking at 2,096 meth-lab incidents in 2011 (Missouri State Highway Patrol data; ~1,960 in 2010). Lab seizures have since fallen sharply (only 91 Missouri lab seizures in 2017 per the DEA St. Louis Division) as production shifted to imported product, but the historical footprint means the disclosure duty remains live for older housing stock.

Post-Closing Obligations

Recording of the deed at the county Recorder of Deeds.
No state transfer-tax filing (none exists).
1099-S (26 U.S.C. § 6045(e)) typically filed by the closing/title agent.
Capital gains — federal, plus Missouri income tax on gains.
Mortgage satisfaction / deed of release (Mo. Rev. Stat. Ch. 443) recorded when the loan is paid.

Federal Overlays (Cross-Reference)

See master methodology § 8; do not repeat federally uniform items in full. Lead-based paint (Title X); FIRPTA (26 U.S.C. § 1445); 1099-S (26 U.S.C. § 6045(e)); *FinCEN Residential Real Estate Rule (31 CFR 1031.320) — effective March 1, 2026, then VACATED nationwide March 19, 2026 in Flowers Title Companies, LLC v. Bessent (E.D. Tex.); DOJ appealing; treat as SUSPENDED pending appeal.* Wire fraud, Fair Housing, RESPA/TRID.

Was this page helpful?