SB 687

This bill updates the real estate disclosure report forms and changes the

requirements for a report submitted to a client by a registered home inspector.

Under current law, with certain exceptions, an owner selling residential real

property or vacant land must give a prospective buyer a form, known as a real estate

condition report for residential real property and known as the vacant land

disclosure report for vacant land, on which the owner discloses certain conditions of,

and other information about, the real property of which the owner is aware. This bill

makes various technical changes to these forms, including grouping questions into

substantive categories, providing examples of different types of defects, and

providing additional instructions and explanatory material. The updated forms

include the disclosures required under current law. In addition to making technical

changes, the bill requires additional disclosures regarding the owner's awareness of

certain conditions related to the property, including 1) defects related to smoke

detectors or carbon monoxide detectors or violations of state or local smoke detector

or carbon monoxide detector laws; 2) unsafe levels of mold or other moisture

intrusions or conditions; 3) defects in, as opposed to just the presence of,

underground or aboveground fuel storage tanks; and 4) burial sites on the property.

The bill also adjusts the contents that a report submitted by a registered home

inspector to a client is required to contain. Under the bill, a report by a home

inspector must describe each defect detected during a home inspection. The bill

defines a “defect” as a condition of any component of an improvement that would

significantly impair the health or safety of future occupants or that, if not repaired,

removed, or replaced, would significantly shorten or adversely affect the expected

normal life of the component of the improvement. The bill also provides that a home

inspector may use the term “defect” in a written home inspection report only if the

use is consistent with the bill's definition of “defect.”