Senate Bill No. 232
(By Senator Unger)
____________
[Introduced January 20, 2004; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary.]
____________
A BILL to amend the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new article, designated §46A-6K-1 and
§46A-6K-2, all relating to requiring disclosure of known
defects by sellers of real property; limiting liability of
real estate agents; and providing criminal penalties.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new article, designated §46A-6K-1 and
§46A-6K-2, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 6K. DISCLOSURE OF DEFECTS WHEN SELLING REAL PROPERTY.
§46A-6K-1. Duty to disclose known defects.
Before the consummation of any transaction between an owner,
seller or vendor of any real property and a buyer, the owner,
seller or vendor shall disclose any known defect, damage,
liability, nuisance or condition that materially and deleteriously affects the value, use, habitability, safety or future
marketability of the real property. The attorney general shall
create a form which requires the seller and seller's agent to state
under oath whether any known defect, damage, liability, nuisance or
condition exists on the property, and if so, the nature of the
defect, damage, liability, nuisance or condition. The form shall
be completed and incorporated by attachment to the deed or other
instrument documenting the sale.
§46A-6K-2. Violations; penalties.
(a) Any person who violates the provisions of this article is
guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be
fined not more than five hundred dollars. Any person who
intentionally and fraudulently misrepresents that no defect,
damage, liability, nuisance or condition exists which materially
and deleteriously affects the value, use or future marketability of
the real property, when he or she knows or has reason to know that
the defect, damage, liability, nuisance or condition does exist is
guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not
more than five thousand dollars or confined in a correctional
institution for no less than one nor more than two years, or both
fined and confined.
(b) When an owner, seller or vendor of any real property is
represented by a real estate agent, the agent is not civilly or
criminally liable for a misrepresentation made in violation of this section unless the agent:
(1) Had knowledge of the defect, damage, liability, nuisance
or condition that existed which materially and deleteriously
affected the value, use or future marketability of the property;
(2) Had knowledge that the owner, seller or vendor had made
the misrepresentation to the buyer; and
(3) Did not inform the buyer of the defect, damage, liability,
nuisance or condition prior to the consummation of the transaction.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require that sellers of
real property disclose known defects to potential buyers. The bill
sets forth misdemeanor and felony provisions and respective
penalties.
This article is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.
Email
Webmaster | © 2024 West Virginia Legislature **
