The Utah purchase agreement section by section

A purchase agreement is the contract a buyer and a seller sign to agree on a home sale. It names the home, the price and how you will pay. It also lists what stays with the house, which conditions protect you, and the date for each step. You may also see it called a purchase and sale agreement, or an agreement of purchase and sale. Those names all mean the same kind of contract.

In Utah, the home purchase agreement has a set name: the Real Estate Purchase Contract, or REPC. The form calls itself a legally binding contract. It binds you once it is accepted. That means the offer or counteroffer is signed and the other side, or their agent, has "Received" it (the form's word for delivered, explained under Notices) by the deadline written in it.

Utah law also limits which form an agent may use. A real estate licensee may fill out only forms approved by both the Utah Real Estate Commission and the state Attorney General. There are two main exceptions: a form your own attorney prepared, or a kind of deal with no approved form. So an agent writing your offer on a Utah home starts from the state form unless one of those exceptions fits.

You can read the whole form for free. It is a PDF on the Utah Division of Real Estate's page of state-approved forms. The form itself says that if you want legal or tax advice, you should ask an attorney or a tax advisor. I can tell you what each part says. What it means for your own legal position is a question for an attorney.

Utah rewrote its purchase contract in 2026. A new state form took effect November 1, 2026, and the December 2024 form may still be used through December 31, 2026. The Real Estate Commission approved the new version on August 19, 2026, and set its dates on September 23. From January 1, 2027, it is the only one agents may use.

So for the rest of 2026, two versions are out there. To tell which one you signed, turn to the footer on the last page. The older form says "effective December 4, 2024" and the new one says "effective November 1, 2026". The new form also runs seven pages, one more than the old.

The Commission called this the first major rewrite since 2018. The front page is new, and several rules moved or changed. Section numbers on this page are the new form's; where the older form differs, the note says so. When I checked in early November 2026, the Division of Real Estate's forms page still showed only the December 2024 form.

The new form puts the whole deal on its first page, so you can see it at a glance. Section 1 splits your price into lines that add up to the total. Line (a) is your earnest money. Then come the new loan, any seller financing, other money, and the rest in cash at settlement.

The "other money" line is new. The form's own examples are a home equity line, a hard money loan and a bridge loan. You and your lender may adjust the loan, seller financing, other money and cash lines as your loan comes together. The earnest money line carries its own warning: in some cases the deposit can become fully non-refundable.

On the loan line, you check the kinds of loan you may apply for: conventional, FHA, VA or USDA. An FHA or VA loan also needs both sides to sign the FHA/VA Loan Addendum, which was updated on the same date. That addendum adds rules for the FHA or VA appraisal and the repairs it calls for.

• Pay to your agent's brokerage

  In Section 2.1 the seller may agree to pay a percent of the price, a dollar amount, or both, to your brokerage. If nothing is written in, the seller has not agreed to pay it in this contract. If the seller agrees to more than your own written agreement with your brokerage, the extra goes back to the seller.

• Seller help with your costs

  Section 2.2 is a new printed line for a set amount the seller puts toward your costs. You decide how it is used: a lower interest rate (a buydown), loan costs, closing costs or prepaid items. Any part left over may go to other costs your lender allows, including a lower price.

• Home warranty

  Section 2.3 is a yes or no box. If it says yes, the seller pays at settlement for a home warranty plan you pick and order, up to the dollar amount written in.

Seller help is something you ask for and the seller agrees to, never a given. Seller concessions and closing costs covers how that request works. To see which side usually pays each cost, read closing costs: who pays in Utah. To see what a buydown could do, try the temporary buydown calculator.

A condition is a reason the contract lets you cancel. Many people call them contingencies. On the new form, Section 3 lists four: Due Diligence, Appraisal, Financing, and Subject to Sale of Buyer's Property. The form says each one applies only if it is checked. An empty box means you gave that protection up.

Due diligence is your chance to check the home and its papers. Section 12.1 lists what you may look into. It starts with the home's condition: the roof, walls and foundation, plumbing, electrical, heating and cooling, and appliances. It goes on to square footage or acreage, lead paint, and geologic or environmental issues.

It also covers what insurance will cost and whether you can get it, flood insurance too. Water sources and water quality are on it, and so are property lines. Use limits, utility costs and fees for shared services are on it too, and it ends with anything else that matters to you. You pay for the checks, you choose who does them, and you pay for any damage they cause. The seller must cooperate.

Whether the results are acceptable is your call alone; the form says your sole discretion. If they are not, you have two choices before the Due Diligence Deadline. Cancel in writing, and your earnest money comes back with no seller signature needed. Or settle your objections with the seller in writing. Do neither by the deadline, and the condition is waived. The seller gets no set time to answer, so your deadline keeps running while you talk.

The appraisal box changed in a small but real way. You now send the seller a complete copy of the appraisal, not just the notice of value. The low value must come from a licensed appraiser, and you need written notice of it from your lender or the appraiser. This right stands apart from your other ways to cancel.

The financing box has two parts. Before the Financing Deadline, you may cancel if you are not happy with the loan's terms. Then the share of the deposit set on page one goes to the seller, and the rest comes back to you. The form offers "50%" or a blank percent, and Section 3(c) sets the share at 50% if no box is checked.

After the Financing Deadline, the rule turns hard. If the loan money has not reached the closing office, either side may cancel, and the seller keeps the whole deposit as the seller's only remedy. Checking this box also commits you to try hard, in good faith, to get the loan.

The sale box now needs paperwork. You write in the address of the home you are selling and attach a subject-to-sale addendum. With no addendum attached, the condition does not apply, even if the box is checked.

The new form lists five deadlines in Section 4: the Seller Disclosure Deadline, the Due Diligence Deadline, the Appraisal Deadline, the Financing Deadline and the Settlement Deadline. Possession sits in the same block. None of them has a set length. You and the seller write in each date, so read yours closely.

Section 25 sets how time works. Each deadline ends at 5:00 PM Mountain Time on its date. "Days" means calendar days, and you start counting the day after the event, such as Acceptance. Weekends count.

One new rule helps with weekends. If the date to deliver or deposit your earnest money, or the Settlement Deadline, lands on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, it moves to the next business day. The form names only those dates. Your Seller Disclosure, Due Diligence, Appraisal and Financing Deadlines stay where they are written.

Any change to a deadline has to be agreed in writing by everyone who signed. The dates bind only you and the seller. A title company, lender or appraiser is not held to them unless it agrees in writing, so share your dates with each of them early.

1. 1You deliver it

   Within four calendar days after Acceptance, you deliver the deposit to your agent's brokerage.

2. 2It goes on deposit

   Your agent's brokerage gets four more calendar days to place it in the brokerage's trust account. If the title company box is checked, the title company holds it instead.

3. 3It counts toward your price

   Your earnest money is line (a) of the price on page one, so it is part of what you pay, not an extra cost.

Late money now has a clear result. Section 5 says that if the earnest money is not delivered or deposited on time, the seller may cancel. That choice is in the seller's sole discretion, and the seller may pursue any remedy the law allows.

If you check the title company box, a separate addendum applies. You deliver the money straight to the title company within four calendar days, and it has four calendar days to deposit it. That addendum warns that the title company may require both of you to sign before paying out the deposit, even in cases where the contract needs only one signature. It also says the Division of Real Estate cannot make a title company release the money, so a dispute there runs on the title company's terms.

The older form also had a line for a second deposit later in the deal. The new form has no such line.

Section 7 decides what you get along with the home. Some things stay unless the contract excludes them. Others stay only if a box is checked. Each item must be owned by the seller and in place.

The smart home rule is new. Under Section 7.2, every smart home device stays unless it is excluded, wired or not. That covers security systems, thermostat controls, home monitors, smart locks, video doorbells and automated lighting. If the seller plans to take the doorbell camera, it has to be written down.

The checked-box items in Section 7.3 pass by a separate bill of sale. The form says they are listed for convenience and carry no value. An unchecked box means the item is excluded. Any other personal property, such as furniture, needs its own written agreement.

Water matters in Utah. Section 7.5 says the price includes any water rights or water shares that are the legal source of the home's current culinary (drinking) water, irrigation, secondary water or stock water. They pass to you at closing by deed or other papers. If the seller is keeping any, that goes on the excluded items line.

Splitting a bill as of the Settlement Deadline means each side pays for its own days of the year or the month. A special assessment is a one-time charge for a project, such as new streets or a large repair. It counts here if a city, a special district or the board that runs a community approved it before the Settlement Deadline.

A change of ownership fee is a charge some planned communities and districts collect when a home sells. You may see it called a transfer, community enhancement or reinvestment fee. The form leaves who pays it to the box you check.

The service contract rule is new. Say the seller uses a property manager, a short-term rental manager, a security company, pest control or a landscaper. You do not take over that contract unless you agree in writing, and the seller ends or settles it at closing.

Section 10 covers title, meaning your legal ownership. The seller promises to deliver marketable title by general warranty deed. You take the home subject to the title commitment you reviewed and approved, and to any leases or short-term bookings that run past closing. At settlement, the seller pays for your owner's title insurance: an ALTA Homeowner's Policy, or an ALTA Owner's Policy if the first is not available.

Section 11 lists what the seller must give you by the Seller Disclosure Deadline. Read each item before your Due Diligence Deadline, since that date is your window to act on what you find.

• 01
  Seller property condition disclosure

  Signed by the seller, about the home's condition.

• 02
  Lead-based paint disclosure

  Only for a home built before 1978.

• 03
  Title commitment

  A title insurance commitment that names you as the buyer.

• 04
  Community rules and records

  Any CC&Rs, bylaws, fee and fine schedules, and rules. For a board that runs shared areas, its latest minutes, budget, reserve study and financial statement.

• 05
  Leases and bookings

  Long-term leases, the short-term booking schedule and any property management agreements.

• 06
  Water rights or shares

  Proof of the water rights or shares that serve the home.

• 07
  Known problems

  Written notice of known environmental problems and building or zoning code violations.

• 08
  Foreign seller notice

  Notice if the seller is a foreign person under a federal tax law called FIRPTA.

On FIRPTA, the IRS says that in most cases the buyer is the one who must hold back tax from a foreign seller's proceeds. If that notice shows up, talk with your closing office and a tax advisor early.

Then there is "as-is". Section 13 says you buy the home as-is, without warranties, after a full chance to inspect it. You rely on your own judgment and your own inspectors. Nothing in the form promises that the systems are in working order.

The seller's duties are short. The seller must disclose known defects that affect value and that a reasonable inspection would not find, and give you the signed condition disclosure. The seller must also hand over the home in substantially the same condition as at Acceptance, apart from normal wear and tear. It should be broom-clean and free of debris and belongings, with any moving damage repaired. Nail holes, screw holes and other wall marks from taking down pictures and decor are not the seller's to fix.

1. 1The walk-through

   Section 14 allows one last look at the home within the seven calendar days before settlement, with reasonable notice. It is only to check that the included items are there, smart home devices among them, and that agreed repairs are done. If you skip it, those items are still yours at possession.

2. 2Settlement

   Both sides sign every paper and pay every sum due, apart from the loan money, by the Settlement Deadline or a later date agreed in writing.

3. 3Closing

   Settlement is done, the loan money has arrived and the papers are recorded with the county recorder. Funding and recording must happen within four calendar days after settlement.

4. 4Possession

   The box in Section 4 sets it: on recording, a set number of hours after, or a set number of days after. At closing the seller hands over a key and any keyless lock codes.

Between Acceptance and closing, Section 15 limits what the seller may do without your written OK. No big changes to the home, no new loans or liens, no change to title, and no new or changed property management or long-term leases. After the Seller Disclosure Deadline, the seller may not take new short-term bookings either.

What if the seller stays past possession? Section 9.3 makes the seller a tenant at will, and you may serve a written notice to start an eviction. The seller also owes a daily holdover fee: the amount written in, or $300 a day, whichever is greater. The form calls that fee liquidated damages, a set amount agreed ahead of time, and says it is not rent.

Sometimes one side needs to rent the home for a while before or after closing. That rent back needs its own written agreement or addendum, and each side insures its own interests and belongings.

Damage before closing is the seller's risk under Section 24. That covers fire, vandalism, flood, earthquake and acts of God. If repairs would cost more than ten percent of the price, either side may cancel, and your deposit comes back to you. You must have your own insurance in place as of closing.

Section 17 says the contract, its addenda and exhibits, and the seller's disclosures make up the whole deal. Spoken promises do not count, and any change needs a written agreement signed by both sides.

If you and the seller disagree, Section 18 lets you try mediation first, if you both choose to. A mediator helps you talk it through but cannot force a decision, and you share the cost. The older form had a box that could make mediation required. The new form drops it.

If it ends in a lawsuit or binding arbitration, Section 20 gives the winner costs and reasonable attorney fees, but not for mediation. Utah law governs the contract. Past this point, a Utah real estate attorney is the person to ask.

• Notices

  A notice must be written and signed. It counts once the other side, their agent, or that agent's broker has Received it by the deadline. For email, Received means it has landed in the inbox system and can be opened (Section 22).

• Acceptance

  The contract starts only when the offer or counteroffer is signed and Received by the deadline written in it. An offer not accepted in time lapses (Sections 23 and 30).

• No handing it off

  You cannot assign the contract to someone else without the seller's written OK. The exception is a business you hold an interest in, such as a family trust or an LLC, with timely notice to the seller (Section 21).

• No marketing before closing

  New: you need the seller's written OK to advertise the home as a rental, a short-term rental or a resale before you own it (Section 21).

• 1031 exchanges

  New: each side agrees to help with the other's 1031 exchange, at no added cost or risk and without delaying closing (Section 26).

• E-signatures

  Electronic signatures count the same as ink (Section 27).

• Who represents whom

  The form confirms in writing whether each agent represents one side or both, with license numbers. A new box is where you disclose that you are a licensed agent or related to an agent in the deal (Sections 28 and 29).

On the last page, the seller answers your offer with one of three boxes: accept, counteroffer by an attached addendum, or reject. Making an offer covers how to shape an offer before it gets that far.

The state-approved list holds one purchase contract and a short set of addenda. Among them are the FHA/VA Loan Addendum, a Seller Financing Addendum, a blank addendum and the title company earnest money addendum. The list also has an assumption addendum, a buyer financial information sheet, lead-based paint forms, and all-inclusive trust deed and note forms.

For raw land, Utah REALTORS publishes a separate Real Estate Purchase Contract for Land for its members. It was updated in November 2024 to match the home contract more closely. Utah law allows a form prepared by legal counsel when no state-approved form fits the deal.

For a newly built home, Utah REALTORS also has a New Construction REPC, and builders often use a contract of their own. A builder's contract may differ a great deal from the state form, so read it line by line before you sign.

I live in Cedar City. In the five Southern Utah counties, Iron, Washington, Kane, Garfield and Beaver, I work as your agent myself, and I'll go through your contract with you before you sign, box by box and date by date. Anywhere else in the state, I'll introduce you to a partner agent I trust; that agent's brokerage pays mine a referral fee.

Separately, I hold a mortgage lending license with Guild Mortgage. For each purchase I pick one role, agent or lender, not both, and I put that in writing at the start. As your lender, I can explain in plain words how your loan's steps line up with your Appraisal and Financing Deadlines. How I Work explains the rest.

I'm not an attorney, though. For legal advice on your own contract, the form points you to an attorney or a tax advisor, and I'd tell you the same.