Radon is one of the few inspection findings that can hold up a deal outright — not because it is hard to fix, but because it arrives late, it has a number attached, and nobody agreed in advance who owns it.
Why it lands so awkwardly
A valid short-term test needs at least 48 hours of closed-house conditions and has to be placed and read by a certified measurement business, so it usually happens right in the middle of the inspection period. And unlike most findings, the result is a number rather than an opinion. “Some settling cracks” is arguable. “9.4 pCi/L” is not.
What actually helps
A written quote from an NJDEP-certified mitigation business, with the number of suction points and the scope in it, does more to keep a deal together than any amount of reassurance. It converts an open-ended worry into a line item, and a line item can be negotiated.
Who pays
There is no rule. In practice a few patterns recur here: the seller installs a system before closing; the seller credits the buyer an agreed amount and the buyer arranges it afterwards; or the two split it. Which one happens is a function of the market and the negotiation, not of the law.
What New Jersey does require
The state does not require a radon test on every sale, but a seller who has had one must give the results to the buyer. Separately, a home on a private well has to have its water tested at the point of sale under the Private Well Testing Act, and gross alpha is a required parameter for Hunterdon County wells — a screen that can indicate radon and other radioactivity in the water. On a rural sale here, two separate radon-related findings from two separate tests is a normal outcome rather than a surprising one.
If there is already a system on the house
Ask for the post-mitigation clearance test. “There is a radon system” is not the same as “the house reads below 4.0”. If nobody can produce a test taken after the fan was switched on, that is a reasonable thing to ask for inside the inspection period, and it is cheap.
What we can do
Send us the finding and the closing date. We will put it in front of certified businesses that work that town and can act on the timeline. If nobody realistically can, we will tell you that rather than waste a week of it.
Agents and inspectors
There is no fee and no referral arrangement in either direction — we are paid by contractors, not by you, and we do not pay for referrals. If it is useful, use it.
Send us an inspection finding →
We cannot interpret a radon result or tell you how serious one is. Only a certified radon measurement professional who has seen the test and the building can do that.