During
the escrow process, you must inform the buyer of specialized
conditions that affect your home. These may include the
following conditions:
Lead Paint
Sellers of properties built prior to 1978 have the following
obligations:
• Provide buyers with a HUD
pamphlet entitled "Protect Your Family From Lead
in Your Home"
• Disclose all known lead-based
paint and related hazards and provide any available reports
• Include a standardized warning as an attachment
to the contract
• Complete and sign statements
verifying that requirements have been met
•
Retain the signed acknowledgement for 3 years
•
In addition, you must provide the buyers with a 10-day
opportunity to test for lead
Natural Hazards
California law requires sellers to disclose, via a "Natural
Hazard Disclosure Statement" or NHD, if properties
are located in one of six predetermined "natural
hazard" zones. (If the property is not within one
of these zones, you, of course, have no such obligation.)
The six zones are:
• A flood hazard zone
as designed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency
(FEMA)
• An area of potential flooding after
a damn failure (also known as an inundation area)
• A very high fire hazard zone
• A wildland
fire area, also known as a state fire responsibility area
• An earthquake fault zone
• A seismic
hazard zone
If an NHD is delivered to the buyer after both parties
have signed the Purchase Agreement, the buyer will have
three days to rescind the agreement. However, if the buyer
received the NHD before they signed the Purchase Agreement,
then they cannot use the NHD to rescind.
Mellow
Roos Districts
Especially (but not exclusively) if you are selling a
home in a newer area, you may be within a Mello-Roos tax
district, and you must provide to the buyer a "Notice
of Special Tax." If this notice is delivered to the
buyer in person, they have three days to rescind their
offer. If it’s delivered via U.S. mail, they have
five days to decide.
Basically, a "Mello Roos Community Facilities District"
is formed by a local government, district, or agency to
finance public services and facilities including police
and fire departments, ambulance and paramedic services,
parks, schools, libraries, museums and cultural facilities.
Condominiums etc.
If you’re selling a condominium, townhouse or other
planned development (for purposes of this discussion,
we will call them all "condominiums"), there
are things you need to know about common areas (such as
greenbelts and recreational rooms) and the homeowner’s
association.
You will be required to make monthly payments, known as
regular assessments, to maintain common areas, as well
as special assessments to replace a roof or repair the
plumbing, as determined by the homeowner’s association
(HOA.)
Condominiums also may have regulations regarding architectural
requirements, limitations on pets, and age restrictions
(i.e., senior housing). These must be formally disclosed
to the buyer during escrow. You may provide this information
via the following documents, to the extent that they exist
and are available:
• Declaration of Restrictions:
Commonly known as "CC&Rs", or Conditions,
Covenants and Restrictions
• Articles of Incorporation
or Articles of Association Bylaws
• All current
financial information and related statements, including
operating budget, estimated revenue and expenses, HOA
reserves, estimated remaining life of major components
(including roofs, plumbing etc.), and regular and special
assessments
• A statement describing the HOA’s
policies and practices in enforcing lien rights or other
legal remedies for default in payment of its assessments
• A summary of the HOA’s property, general
liability, and earthquake and flood insurance policies
• On existing HOA’s, a statement describing
any restrictions on the basis of age, such as authorized
senior citizen housing
Many smaller HOAs will not have all of these documents,
but must provide what they do have. We recommend that
you review these documents thoroughly, because they will
affect you firsthand.
Contact
us for more info on Saratoga disclosures.. |
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