Vermont Purchase and Sale Agreement (Two Individual Sellers)

Two record owners selling one Vermont property sign one contract, and this Vermont purchase and sale agreement is arranged for exactly that pattern: two individual sellers, one buyer, three signature blocks. The form fixes the purchase price and deposit, names the deed both sellers deliver at closing, and carries the flood, water supply, and road status disclosures Vermont attaches to the contract stage of a real estate sale.

Two sellers, one binding contract

Vermont's Statute of Frauds, 12 V.S.A. § 181(5), reaches every contract for the sale of lands or an interest in or concerning them, so an oral bargain over real estate cannot support a lawsuit. This agreement is the signed writing that statute contemplates. Section 1 recites both sellers by name and mailing address, Section 2 recites the buyer, and the deed section commits both sellers to join in one deed conveying marketable title, so the seller-side promise is whole rather than fractional. Two siblings selling inherited land held as tenants in common, unmarried co-owners parting with a shared house, and spouses selling a home held as tenants by the entirety all present the two-owner record pattern this real estate purchase contract recites.

Vermont disclosures inside the agreement

Vermont moved flood disclosure to the contract stage in 2024. Under 27 V.S.A. § 380, the seller delivers, before or as part of the contract for conveyance, a copy of or link to the official FEMA flood insurance rate map showing the property, or notice that no map is available, and discloses flood history during the seller's ownership and the flood insurance the seller maintains or is required to maintain. The form carries a blank for each of those three statements. A water supply blank tracks 27 V.S.A. § 616, which sets a 72 hour window after execution for delivering Department of Health materials when the property has a private potable supply, and a road status blank tracks 27 V.S.A. § 617 for property located on a class 4 highway or legal trail. Fixed text also recites the smoke and carbon monoxide alarm certification a seller of a single-family dwelling signs at closing under 9 V.S.A. § 2883, and folds in the federal lead-based paint disclosure of 42 U.S.C. § 4852d, with its ten day inspection opportunity, for housing built before 1978.

From signed contract to recorded deed

The agreement itself never reaches the town clerk. Vermont keeps land records town by town, and what is recorded after closing is the deed, accompanied by the property transfer tax return that 32 V.S.A. § 9608 makes a recording prerequisite. The contract allocates those closing mechanics in advance: the transferee bears the property transfer tax under 32 V.S.A. § 9602, the buyer pays the deed recording fee, property taxes prorate as of closing, and when a seller is a nonresident of Vermont the buyer withholds 2.5 percent of the consideration under 32 V.S.A. § 5847. Deposit escrow, risk of loss before closing, and default remedies, including retention of the deposit as liquidated damages on an unexcused buyer default, sit in fixed operative text, and a special provisions section takes negotiated terms such as included personal property or an inspection contingency.

What the two-seller layout carries

The architecture matters most at the deed stage. Under 27 V.S.A. § 349(a)(2), an interest in tenancy-by-the-entirety or homestead property passes to a person other than the owner's spouse only when the spouse joins in the conveyance, and under 27 V.S.A. § 141 a married owner's conveyance of homestead property without spousal joinder is inoperative as to the homestead. Because both record owners sign this home purchase agreement and both join in the deed it calls for, the two-seller layout carries those joinder rules through closing. The form recites exactly two individual sellers and one buyer. A sole owner's sale, an entity or fiduciary seller, three or more record owners, and multiple buyers each change the signature architecture, and this form is not set up as any of those configurations.

The download prepares the contract, not the closing documents: the deed, the transfer tax return, the water materials, and any lead attachment are separate instruments prepared apart from this package. The purchase includes the fillable two-seller agreement, a completed example showing a Windsor County sale entered blank by blank, and a guide that walks through each section with the statutes above. The materials are informational and are not legal advice.