STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1409
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2001
RE: H.B. No. 79
H.D. 1
S.D. 1
Honorable Robert Bunda
President of the Senate
Twenty-First State Legislature
Regular Session of 2001
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection and Housing, to which was referred H.B. No. 79, H.D. 1, entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO REAL PROPERTY DISCLOSURES,"
begs leave to report as follows:
The purpose of this measure is to require absentee owners to make certain disclosures in the sale of residential real property.
The Real Estate Commission and Hawaii Association of Realtors testified in support of this measure with amendments.
Under the current law, an absentee owner offering residential real property for sale has no duty to disclose material facts relating to the property, including those material facts of which the absentee owner has personal knowledge. This measure imposes the same duty of disclosure upon absentee owner-sellers as the law imposes upon other sellers of residential real property by repealing the absentee owner exemption.
Your Committee has amended this measure by replacing its contents with the language of S.B. No. 169, S.D. 1, and by further amending the definition of "material facts" contained in the Senate version. As amended, this measure, additionally:
(1) Limits a seller's or seller's agent's duty to examine public records as part of the disclosure process to the examination of certain maps such as maps designating hazard, disaster, and noise exposure areas, as referenced in section 508D-15, Hawaii Revised Statutes;
(2) Clarifies that "material facts" are facts that would be expected to measurably affect the property's value to a reasonable person;
(3) Clarifies the requirements for a buyer's rescission of the real estate purchase contract based upon subsequently discovered inaccurate assertions or material facts;
(4) Strengthens the "good faith and with due care" requirement for the preparation of disclosure statements by disallowing disclosures based on approximations of information; and
(5) Makes technical, nonsubstantive amendments to the Mandatory Seller Disclosures Act for purposes of clarify, consistency, and style.
As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection and Housing that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 79, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 79, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection and Housing,
|
____________________________ RON MENOR, Chair |
||