A disclosure package has a requirement most real estate documents don’t: you may later need to prove it was delivered, and prove what was in it.
That single fact should decide how you send it. An emailed zip gives you a sent-items entry and nothing else — no evidence it was opened, no record of which version, no proof of what the package contained on the day it went out.
Send it as a permissioned, logged, timestamped space and you have all three.
This guide covers the practical mechanics of delivery. Disclosure obligations vary considerably by province, state and transaction type — what must be disclosed, when, and in what form is a question for your brokerage or your lawyer, not a software article.
What usually goes wrong
- Incomplete packages. A document is missed, discovered late, and the timeline resets. Usually because the package was assembled by hand from email attachments.
- Version confusion. An updated report is sent as a follow-up. The buyer reads the first one. Nobody's sure afterwards which was relied upon.
- No proof of receipt. “I emailed it” is weak. It shows you sent something to an address; not that it arrived, was opened, or was complete.
- Buried material. Everything technically supplied, but the significant item sits at position 23 of 31 in an alphabetical list. Delivered, arguably not disclosed.
How to structure it
Order it the way a buyer needs to understand the property, not the way the files happen to be named:
- Summary or index — what's in the package, listed
- Property condition — inspections, known defects
- Legal — title, survey, easements, restrictions
- Financial — taxes, fees, assessments
- Environmental — where applicable
- Statutory forms — whatever your jurisdiction requires
- Everything else — permits, warranties, prior work
An index at the top is the highest-value thing you can add. It converts “here are 31 files” into “here is a complete package, and here’s what’s in it.”
The delivery checklist
- Every required document present, checked against your brokerage's list
- An index the buyer can see before opening anything
- Grouped and ordered, not alphabetical
- One link, not multiple emails
- Timestamped record of when it was made available
- Record of who opened it and when
- Documents updated in place, so no stale version circulates
- Access retained after closing, for your own records
Why the access log matters
If a question arises months later about what was disclosed and when, there’s a meaningful difference between:
and
“The package was made available on the 14th at 09:12. The buyer opened it at 11:40 that day, and again on the 16th, spending nine minutes in the inspection report.”
The second is a record. The first is a recollection.
That isn’t legal advice and it isn’t a substitute for whatever your jurisdiction requires — but as a matter of practice, having the record costs nothing and not having it can cost a great deal.
Where this leaves you
Disclosure is one of the few places in a transaction where the mechanics of delivery can matter as much as the content. Email is the weakest available option and it’s still the most common one.
Shrubs delivers the package as a structured, indexed space with a complete access log — who opened what, when, for how long — plus optional acknowledgement before access. Documents update in place, so there’s never a stale version in circulation. Free plan includes 2.5 GB (USD pricing).