Over the past week the General Assembly has diligently advanced several bills impacting Virginia REALTORS. Several bill have been passed out of committee and will be considered on the floor of the House and Senate next week. We are pleased to report that all of our Prince William area representatives in the General Assembly that have had the opportunity to support these measures, have done so.
This week, SB 197 (Locke), SB 528 (Mason), and SB 514 (Suetterlein), were passed unanimously by the Senate Committee on General Laws and Technology. They were passed unanimously by the entire body earlier today. Yesterday, three REALTOR bills advanced out of the House General Laws Subcommittee #2 on 8-0 votes. HB 439 (Mason), HB 864 (Ingram), and HB 923 (Bulova), will all be considered by the full committee next week.
Below you will find complete information on all of these bills complete with links to read the bills in their entirety. We will continue to update you as our priorities move through the legislative process.
SB 197 Acceptance of Rent with Reservation – Mamie Locke
The current statute requires a landlord to give a notice of acceptance of rent with reservation in order to accept rental payments and still move forward with eviction. The current language of the statute is being interpreted different ways by different judges, so that landlords and tenants, property managers and lawyers don’t know exactly how to handle these notices. The purpose of this legislation is to simply clarify the existing law removing the requirement for second notice for the time period between entry of an order of possession and prior to eviction, thus eliminating the confusion with the existing statutory language.
SB 514 Real Estate Board; powers and duties, escrow funds – David R. Suetterlein
Establishes notice provisions and required procedures to be followed in the case of escrow funds held by a real estate broker in the event of termination of a real estate purchase contract. In addition, the bill requires that the curricula for new licensees of the Real Estate Board include real estate-related finance as one of the topics and requires the Board to establish guidelines for a post-license educational curriculum for real estate salespersons consisting of at least 30 hours of instruction to be completed within one year from the last day of the month in which the initial license was issued. The bill (i) adds to the criteria for broker licensure courses the requirement that at least two hours of instruction include an overview of broker supervision requirements under Virginia law and Board regulations, and (ii) provides for the Board to develop a form for signature by the parties to a real estate transaction that advises the purchaser to review the residential property disclosure statement on the Board’s website. The bill also clarifies that the Board is required to make the disclosure form mandated by the Virginia Residential Property Disclosure Act (§ 55-517 et seq.) available on the Board’s website. Provisions of the bill amending the curriculum and instruction requirements have a delayed effective date of January 1, 2019.
Provides that if a party to a real estate transaction requests translation of a contract or other real estate document from the English language to another language, a real estate licensee may assist such party in obtaining a translator or may refer such party to an electronic translation service and, in doing so, the licensee shall not be deemed to have breached any of his obligations as a real estate licensee or otherwise become liable for any inaccuracies in the translation.
HB 439 Translation of Documents Non – English Language – David Bulova
This legislation would encourage real estate licensees to assist the growing diverse population in the Commonwealth by establishing statutory authority for a real estate licensee to refer a party to one or more translation services so the party can contract directly with a translation service of their choosing. The legislation would also make clear that the real estate licensee is not liable for any inaccuracies that may occur by the translator or translation service since all the real estate licensee is doing is advising the party of the availability of translation services.
HB 864 Real Estate Board; powers and duties, escrow funds – Riley Ingram
Establishes notice provisions and required procedures to be followed in the case of escrow funds held by a real estate broker in the event of termination of a real estate purchase contract. In addition, the bill requires that the curricula for new licensees of the Real Estate Board include real estate-related finance as one of the topics and requires the Board to establish guidelines for a post-license educational curriculum for real estate salespersons consisting of at least 30 hours of instruction to be completed within one year from the last day of the month in which the initial license was issued. The bill (i) adds to the criteria for broker licensure courses the requirement that at least two hours of instruction include an overview of broker supervision requirements under Virginia law and Board regulations, and (ii) provides for the Board to develop a form for signature by the parties to a real estate transaction that advises the purchaser to review the residential property disclosure statement on the Board’s website. The bill also clarifies that the Board is required to make the disclosure form mandated by the Virginia Residential Property Disclosure Act (§ 55-517 et seq.) available on the Board’s website. Provisions of the bill amending the curriculum and instruction requirements have a delayed effective date of January 1, 2019.
Requires the Common Interest Community Board (Board) to reconfigure its current one-page form that accompanies association disclosure packets that are required to be provided to all prospective purchasers of lots located within a development that is subject to the Virginia Property Owners’ Association Act as a cover form to accompany both association disclosure packets and resale certificates that are required to be provided to all prospective purchasers of units located within a condominium that is subject to the Condominium Act. The bill also requires the Board to expand the breadth of information that is included on the form to provide potential purchasers with additional information regarding restrictive covenants that the potential purchaser may be subject to as a member of a property owners’ association or a unit owners’ association and which may affect the potential purchaser’s decision to purchase a lot or unit located within a common interest community.
Listed below are several resources to help you navigate the legislative session. You will find resources to help determine who your elected representative is and how to contact them, how to determine who serves on which committees, as well as when our legislative priorities will be considered. If you care to do so, you can even watch online as these meetings take place!
Brendon Shaw serves as our full-time representative in Richmond and advocates on our behalf. Should you have any questions about legislation, the legislative process, or Virginia REALTORS legislative priorities, he can be reached by email at BShaw@cardinalstrategiesva.com.
Daily floor calendars (voting schedule)