---
title: "Purchase-contract due diligence checklist (United States)"
url: "https://ailawframework.com/precedents/residential-conveyancing-and-property/us-purchase-due-diligence-checklist"
type: "precedent"
site: "AI Law Framework"
id: "a9-us-purchase-due-diligence-checklist"
area_id: "A9"
kind: "checklist"
ai_level: "yellow"
version: 1
task_ids: ["A9-T1-R1", "A9-B2-1", "A9-T1-R3", "A9-P20260916-1", "A9-T1-R8"]
law_stated_as_at: "2026-10-22"
---

# Purchase-contract due diligence checklist (United States)

> A buyer-side list for a US purchase contract: title commitment, names and the legal description, pre-1978 lead disclosure, FIRPTA withholding, and loan disclosures if the purchase is financed.

Canonical page: https://ailawframework.com/precedents/residential-conveyancing-and-property/us-purchase-due-diligence-checklist  
Law stated as at: 2026-10-22

Site index for agents: https://ailawframework.com/llms.txt

## Key facts

- Kind: Checklist. Steps or checks to work through and tick off.
- Practice area: [Residential Conveyancing & Property](https://ailawframework.com/precedents/residential-conveyancing-and-property.md)
- Jurisdictions: United States
- AI level: Yellow. You and the tool draft together, with you directing. You check every statement you rely on.
- Law stated as at: 2026-10-22
- Status: Maintained. Checked on 2026-10-22 against the 3 authorities it cites, for United States.

## When to use it

Use before the buyer is bound, and again before closing, on a US purchase of real property. Work the lead rows only for housing the EPA page covers. Work the FIRPTA rows when the seller may be a foreign person.

## Used for these tasks

- [Review the contract of sale and draft the buyer's issues report](https://ailawframework.com/practice/residential-conveyancing-and-property/review-the-contract-of-sale-and-draft-the-buyer-s-issues-report.md)
- [Check a contract of sale against searches before exchange](https://ailawframework.com/practice/residential-conveyancing-and-property/check-a-contract-of-sale-against-searches-before-exchange.md)
- [Analyse the title search and list encumbrances and deal-stoppers](https://ailawframework.com/practice/residential-conveyancing-and-property/analyse-the-title-search-and-list-encumbrances-and-deal-stoppers.md)
- [Find gaps in the seller disclosure pack](https://ailawframework.com/practice/residential-conveyancing-and-property/find-gaps-in-the-seller-disclosure-pack.md)
- [Build the pre-settlement checklist and adjustment worksheet](https://ailawframework.com/practice/residential-conveyancing-and-property/build-the-pre-settlement-checklist-and-adjustment-worksheet.md)

## How AI may be used

A tool may fill dates, names, and document titles from the contract, the title commitment, and the disclosure papers the lawyer has put in the file.

**AI may:**

- Copy the property address, the price, the parties, and the legal description from the contract into the open rows
- List title-commitment requirements and exceptions that are still blank or still quoted only as "see commitment"
- Mark a lead-disclosure row incomplete when the housing was built before 1978 and the pamphlet, the warning statement, or the records are not in the file
- Carry the FIRPTA figures from the file note once the lawyer has completed that note

**AI must not:**

- Must not state that a use, a tenant, or an association document complies with a statute this checklist does not cite
- Must not state a Loan Estimate or Closing Disclosure timing rule
- Must not decide that a FIRPTA exception applies
- Must not send the checklist to the other side

**The lawyer checks:**

- Each title exception is either accepted in the lawyer's words or listed as unresolved
- Lead rows follow the EPA page, including the housing the rule does not cover
- The withholding figure matches the FIRPTA file note, including a joint seller allocated by capital contribution
- If there is a mortgage, the Loan Estimate and the Closing Disclosure are in the file and the lawyer has read the timing in the TRID material

## Authorities

- [U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Real Estate Disclosures about Potential Lead Hazards (Lead-based Paint Disclosure Rule page)](https://www.epa.gov/lead/real-estate-disclosures-about-potential-lead-hazards)
- [Internal Revenue Service, FIRPTA withholding (page on withholding of tax on dispositions of U.S. real property interests)](https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/firpta-withholding)
- [Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, TILA-RESPA integrated disclosure rule resource page (page last modified December 17, 2024)](https://www.consumerfinance.gov/compliance/compliance-resources/mortgage-resources/tila-respa-integrated-disclosures/)

## Full text and drafting notes

The full text and the drafting notes are not part of this public page. Signed-in firm accounts can read them at https://ailawframework.com/precedents/residential-conveyancing-and-property/us-purchase-due-diligence-checklist and through the signed-in MCP connector https://ailawframework.com/mcp/firm.

*Practice guidance for planning and review. Confirm current primary sources and the requirements of the actual matter. This is general information, not legal advice.*