Negotiating After a Termite Finding

Negotiating termite damage usually comes down to choosing between a price credit or seller treatment before closing. Your strongest ask is usually for the seller’s treatment contract and past pest records, because those change what you own rather than what you paid.

If an inspection turned up live insects or evidence of past activity, the deadline on your contract will push you toward a number. The paperwork is what decides who is covered a year later, and the number is not.

What is actually on the table?

Four options exist when negotiating termite issues during a property purchase: asking the seller to treat before closing, taking a financial credit, reducing the sale price, or taking the home as-is and handling treatment yourself.

Who pays for what is a separate question, and I have taken the three costs apart in my guide on who pays for a termite inspection.

Asking the seller to treat before closing hands the choice of company and the choice of treatment to the person paying for it. Taking a credit at closing or a reduction in price puts the money in your hands and the job of hiring somebody on you, after the keys have changed hands. Taking the house as it stands leaves you paying for the treatment and for whatever the report could not see. None of the four is obviously the right one, and which is best depends on what the seller’s paperwork turns out to say.

Why is the first ask a document rather than a number?

Asking for past treatment records and seller disclosures alters the inspector’s official recommendation rules without needing anyone to touch the house.

Form NPMA-33 is the national form a lender asks for where a state does not prescribe one of its own, and it sets out when a recommendation is due. Treatment should be recommended if live termites are found, and it should be recommended where evidence of infestation is found with no documented previous treatment, even with nothing alive. Where a documented treatment did occur, the form drops that to a may, and an existing warranty or service agreement narrows it further.

Form NPMA-33 also places an explicit obligation on the seller to disclose all known information regarding infestation, damage, repair, and treatment history. Section V of the form lists comments and attachments as an integral part of the official report. Obtaining those past treatment receipts or warranty papers changes the official finding on the page before you ever argue over dollar amounts. If you are trying to interpret why an inspector flagged evidence without live bugs, my page on failed termite inspection next steps explains how previous treatments alter recommendations, while my breakdown of what is a WDI report details each section of the document.

What do you end up holding if the seller treats before closing?

Accepting a seller’s offer to perform treatment leaves you holding one of three distinct warranty tiers: retreatment and repair, retreatment only, or no warranty whatsoever.

Under Florida Statute Section 482.227, any contract for treatment of wood-destroying organisms must specify on its first page in bold print whether it is offered for repair and retreatment, retreatment only, or no warranty. The statute forbids companies from using the words “full” or “unlimited” alongside “guarantee” if the document carries disclaimers or exclusions.

The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services explains that a retreatment and repair contract obligates the company to return and fix new termite damage, whereas a retreatment-only agreement limits the company to re-applying chemicals with no structural repairs. FDACS notes that a retreatment and repair warranty is generally more expensive than lower tiers. If you are comparing contract structures, my overview of a termite bond explained details what pest agreements contain.

If the seller pays for a service before closing, North Carolina rules require a copy of that written agreement and warranty to be attached directly to the inspection report. You can read more about how these coverage categories function in my guide on repair bond vs retreat only.

Does the warranty come with the house?

Sometimes, and in several states the inspection report in your hand already tells you. Whether it transfers is a term of the treatment contract, and the terms differ by state and by company.

Three states explicitly print the transferability question on the face of their official real estate inspection forms:

• Alabama’s official Wood Infestation Inspection Report features check boxes indicating whether the current contract is transferable on or before the expiration date with company notification, or not transferable at all.
• Georgia’s Structural Pest Control Commission requires a prescribed form with three distinct boxes: transferable upon payment of a fee on or before the expiration date, not transferable, or not covered by a treatment contract with that company.
• Mississippi’s Official Wood Destroying Insect Report carries a contract-in-force block with an expiration date and a clear “Yes” or “No” check box for transferability.

Rules in other states place transfer obligations into the body of the service contract itself. North Carolina administrative code requires every wood-destroying organism agreement to state whether it may be transferred to subsequent property owners and the specific terms of that transfer. Tennessee regulations mandate that each contract carry a transfer provision prior to execution.

Louisiana goes even further by statute, making any currently effective standard contract transferable to a subsequent property owner as a matter of law. Mississippi regulations state that termite control contracts must guarantee the work to both the original owner and subsequent owners for at least one year from the initial contract date. Before you ask the seller for anything, look at the contract status box on your own copy of the report. It will tell you whether there is anything to inherit, and asking for the contract itself is the next move either way.

Who chooses the company?

That is between you and the seller, and North Carolina’s regulator says only that the two of you should agree a treatment plan before the treatment happens. Two rules narrow the field.

North Carolina’s Structural Pest Control Division clarifies that an inspector’s legal duty ends once the written report is delivered. From that point on, it is up to the buyer or seller to contract for services, and both parties should discuss and agree upon a treatment plan before any chemical application happens.

Existing coverage can restrict who performs new work. North Carolina administrative code forbids knowingly placing a structure under a second written agreement for the same organism while a prior contract remains active, unless the property owner signs a written acknowledgment. Florida requires a state-mandated consent form if a property owner changes companies while active coverage exists.

If the seller proposes a specific contractor, guidance from the University of Kentucky Department of Entomology recommends getting inspections and estimates from multiple companies. Treating this as a verification step lets you confirm the presence of an active infestation while comparing proposed service terms.

What does a spot treatment do to the warranty?

It can leave you with nothing to inherit, because most firms will not warrant one.

North Carolina rules state that a localized spot treatment may be satisfactory if a prior complete treatment was performed or if no warranty is requested. However, if the infestation is widespread or a warranty is required, state guidelines recommend a complete structure treatment, such as a liquid barrier treatment.

University of Kentucky entomology guidelines highlight that most reputable pest control firms will not issue a warranty for a spot treatment, because termites easily find alternate entry points into the structure. Kentucky guidance adds that companies will offer no warranty at all if wells, drainage systems, sub-slab heat ducts, or inaccessible crawl spaces prevent treatment according to industry standards.

So a seller choosing the cheapest option that satisfies a closing condition can hand you a treated house and no coverage on it, which is the outcome worth watching for when the answer to your ask comes back as yes.

Who answers the damage and repair question?

Not the person who wrote your report. The damage question belongs to a structural engineer, a contractor or another building expert, and both regulators here say so.

Form NPMA-33 carries a note that it is not a structural damage report, that where the evidence box is checked some degree of damage including hidden damage may be present, and that anyone with questions about damage indicated by the report should contact a qualified structural professional to determine the extent of it and the need for repairs. The form is separately clear that an inspector’s training and experience do not qualify them in damage evaluation.

North Carolina’s Structural Pest Control Division notes that pest operators are not required to report the presence or extent of structural damage. If damage exists, the buyer is responsible for having it evaluated and either repaired or certified as structurally inconsequential by a qualified engineer or contractor. North Carolina also notes that most homes over ten to fifteen years old show some evidence of wood-destroying insects, and that a buyer, a lender and everyone else has to be willing to accept some of it in an older house. That is worth holding on to before deciding how much of your ask a finding is worth.

What does a VA loan do to the timing?

A VA loan requires all wood-destroying insect repairs identified on an inspection report to be completed before the Department of Veterans Affairs will guaranty the loan.

It puts a deadline on the repairs rather than on the ask. Under VA Circular 26-22-11, VA requires a wood destroying pest inspection report as a Minimum Property Requirement for certain properties in areas the Termite Infestation Probability Map rates very heavy or moderate to heavy, and MPR repairs identified on that report must be completed prior to guaranty.

The same circular authorizes veterans to be charged the inspection fee where the Notice of Value requires one, and to pay for repairs needed to meet those requirements. It then encourages veterans to negotiate the cost of the inspection and the repairs with the seller, which is a federal agency telling the reader to do the thing this page is about. The requirement itself I have taken apart in my guide on the VA loan termite inspection.

What is the one thing not to ask for?

You should never ask an inspector or seller for a “clean” or revised report that removes references to past termite activity.

North Carolina regulatory guidelines state that lending institutions and buyers should never seek a clear report. Issuing a revised report that claims “no evidence” when evidence was previously observed violates state structural pest control rules and can be treated as legal fraud.

Both Florida’s agricultural division and University of Kentucky entomologists emphasize that termite decisions should never be rushed. Termites move slowly, and taking an extra few days or weeks to evaluate repair options carries virtually no structural risk. The pressure you feel during negotiations is driven by contract closing deadlines, not by the biological speed of the insects.

What would I do?

If I were buying a home with a termite finding, I would demand full historical pest records and current contract transfer papers before discussing repair credits or seller treatments.

I have not seen your specific inspection report, your house, or your real estate purchase agreement. However, treating termite findings as a paper trail problem gives you far more leverage than treating it as a cash discount.

I would ask for the existing treatment agreement and the seller’s records first, and read the transferability box on the report before naming any figure. If the answer came back as a spot treatment, I would want to know in writing whether anything was being warranted, because Kentucky’s entomologists say most firms will not warrant one. If nothing was, I would rather have the credit and pick the company myself than inherit a treated house with no contract on it. That is a preference and not a rule, and your contract may not leave room for it. Where all of this sits in the rest of the purchase is in my guide to termite inspection for home buyers.

Sources

• Form NPMA-33: Wood Destroying Insect Inspection Report (7/01/19) — National Pest Management Association, hosted by US Department of Housing and Urban Development, 2019-07-01. Accessed 2026-08-07.
• A Home Buyer’s Guide for Wood Destroying Insect Information Report (WDIR) — North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services, Structural Pest Control Division, undated. Accessed 2026-08-07.
• Conducive Conditions and Contracts for Wood Destroying Organisms (FDACS-P-02044) — Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, 2020-06. Accessed 2026-08-07.
• Fla. Stat. § 482.227, Guarantees and warranties — The Florida Legislature, 2020. Accessed 2026-08-07.
• 02 NCAC 34 .0605, Contractual Agreements for Wood-Destroying Organisms — North Carolina Structural Pest Control Committee / NC Office of Administrative Hearings, 2018-11-22. Accessed 2026-08-07.
• Termite Control: Answers for Homeowners (ENTFACT-604) — University of Kentucky Department of Entomology — Michael F. Potter, 2026-03. Accessed 2026-08-07.
• Ala. Admin. Code ch. 80-10-9, r. 80-10-9-.18, Real Estate Transaction Inspection Report, and Exhibit A (Official Alabama Wood Infestation Inspection Report) — Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries, published by the Alabama Legislative Services Agency, undated. Accessed 2026-08-07.
• Rules of the Georgia Structural Pest Control Commission, Rule 620-6-.03 — Georgia Department of Agriculture, 2026-04-08. Accessed 2026-08-07.
• Mississippi Official Wood Destroying Insect Report (revised 10-16-2025) — Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce, Bureau of Plant Industry, 2025-10-16. Accessed 2026-08-07.
• 2 Miss. Admin. Code Pt. 1, Subpt. 3, Ch. 11, Subch. 01, R. 115 and R. 117, Contracts and the Wood Destroying Insect Report — Mississippi Bureau of Plant Industry, published by the Mississippi Secretary of State, 2026-01-20. Accessed 2026-08-07.
• La. R.S. 3:3370, Written contracts — Louisiana State Legislature, undated. Accessed 2026-08-07.
• Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0080-09-04-.08, Requirements of Specific Categories and Pesticides — Tennessee Department of Agriculture, published by the Tennessee Secretary of State, 2021-12-26. Accessed 2026-08-07.
• Circular 26-22-11: Pest Inspection Fees and Repair Costs — Veterans Benefits Administration, US Department of Veterans Affairs, 2022-06-15. Accessed 2026-08-07.