Vermont Purchase and Sale Agreement (Married Couple as Sellers)

Two signature lines on the seller side are the defining feature of this Vermont purchase and sale agreement: it is set up for a married couple selling Vermont real property, with both spouses named as sellers, both joining the contract, and both committed to joining the deed at closing. One buyer is named. The agreement carries the price and deposit terms, the formal legal description, the flood disclosure Vermont places at the contract stage, and the closing terms that end with a deed recorded in the town land records.

Why Both Spouses Sign

Vermont treats a conveyance to two married people as creating a tenancy by the entirety unless the deed says otherwise, and the Vermont Supreme Court has held that neither spouse in that estate owns a separable share that can be disposed of without the other's joinder. Statute reinforces the point twice over: 27 V.S.A. Section 141 makes a married owner's conveyance of homestead property inoperative as to the homestead unless the spouse joins in the execution and acknowledgment, and 27 V.S.A. Section 349(a)(2) bars conveying an entireties or homestead interest to anyone but the owner's spouse without spousal joinder. This agreement is built around those rules. Section 1 names both spouses as sellers and states that they are married to each other, Section 9 carries both spouses' commitment to join in the deed, and Section 17 provides a full signature block for each spouse and for the buyer.

A Written Contract the Statute of Frauds Enforces

A Vermont land sale contract is enforceable by action only as a signed writing. Under 12 V.S.A. Section 181(5), a contract for the sale of lands, or of an interest in or concerning them, calls for a written agreement or memorandum signed by the party to be charged, and an agent signing for a principal holds written authorization. The agreement is a contract, so no notary appears at this stage; it also carries a counterparts sentence, and the parties may sign separate copies that together form one agreement. Notarization arrives later, when the deed is acknowledged for recording.

Vermont Disclosures Built Into the Contract

Vermont's flood disclosure statute, 27 V.S.A. Section 380, operates before or as part of the contract for conveyance, so this form carries it in the body of the agreement. Three labeled entries record the FEMA flood insurance rate map provided to the buyer or a notice that no map is available, any flooding or flood-related damage while the sellers possessed the property, and whether the sellers maintain or are required to maintain flood insurance. The statute lets a buyer who never received the disclosure terminate before transfer of title or occupancy, and it supports a damages action where a seller knowingly withheld it.

The agreement also states the conditional obligations that attach by property type: Department of Health water-supply materials within 72 hours after execution where the property has a potable water supply outside a public system, lead hazard materials before execution for pre-1978 target housing, the class 4 highway and legal trail disclosure of 27 V.S.A. Section 617, and the smoke and carbon monoxide alarm certification delivered at closing for a single-family dwelling under 9 V.S.A. Section 2883. Vermont has no statute requiring a general property-condition report, so these targeted statutory items are the disclosure spine of a Vermont contract.

From Contract to Deed, Transfer Tax, and Withholding

Vermont records land instruments town by town, and what reaches the town clerk after closing is the deed, not the contract. The agreement sets that stage: the sellers commit to deliver the stated deed type, executed and acknowledged by both spouses, conveying marketable title free of every encumbrance except the matters listed. The printed terms allocate the Vermont property transfer tax and clean water surcharge to the buyer as transferee, the allocation 32 V.S.A. Section 9602 makes, and the town clerk cannot record the deed until the completed Property Transfer Tax Return accompanies it. A separate withholding term tracks 32 V.S.A. Section 5847: where any seller is a nonresident of Vermont at closing, the buyer withholds two and one-half percent of the consideration for the Department of Taxes unless a certificate reduces or eliminates it.

The package contains the purchase and sale agreement as a fillable PDF, a completed example showing every section filled in for a Waterbury, Vermont sale by a married couple, and a plain-language guide that walks through all seventeen sections and the statutes behind them. The materials are informational and are not legal advice.