The Mayor and Council in July are expected to introduce an ordinance to apply a county law, requiring home sellers to conduct radon testing and disclose details of the home’s energy use, to home sales in the city.
The law requires the seller to provide the buyer with the results of radon tests conducted less than a year before the sale date of a single-family home or townhome. Units that are part of a condominium or a cooperative housing corporation are exempt from the county law. The requirement would provide prospective City of Rockville residents access to the same important home health and energy information they would receive when purchasing a home in other parts of Montgomery County.
Introduction of the ordinance is tentatively scheduled for Monday, July 18. Visit www.rockvillemd.gov/AgendaCenter for more information when the agenda is posted several days before the meeting.
Radon, which was Rockville’s focus for Building Safety Month in May, is an invisible, odorless, tasteless, radioactive gas. While no immediate symptoms will signal its presence, exposure at high levels can cause cancer. Testing is the only way to know a home’s radon levels. Find information about radon mitigation measures and how to order discounted radon test kits at www.rockvillemd.gov/radon.
The city’s building code requires all new single-family construction to include passive radon mitigation, such as subfloor preparation, installation of a soil-gas retarder, the closure of potential radon entry routes and the installation of vent pipes.
If adopted, the city law would take effect Jan. 1, to allow time for residents and businesses to prepare for the change and to coincide with National Radon Action Month.