Is the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation (DPOR) Residential Property Disclosure Acknowledgement required to be provided if the property is being sold by an estate or if the owners never visited the property?  

Virginia’s Residential Property Disclosure Act (RPDA), which requires sellers to provide a due diligence statement and acknowledgement of specific adverse conditions affecting the property to prospective buyers, has very few exemptions. Occasionally, a seller has recently inherited or never visited a property and has no knowledge of its condition. According to § 55.1-702. Exemptions, trusts and estates are exempt from the RPDA in only limited scenarios, such as when a property is being sold pursuant to the administration of an estate or foreclosure.

Frequently, the NVAR Legal Hotline receives questions regarding requirements when a homeowner passes away and the surviving children wish to sell the property, especially if  the children all reside in different states and have never lived in the house.  Notably, out-of-state residence and lack of familiarity with a property are not exemptions from the RPDA;  the children are still required to provide the DPOR forms.  

The best question to ask a prospective client is: “In what capacity are you selling the property?” Whether a seller is serving as a fiduciary or homeowner is key in determining whether they fall under one of the RPDA exemptions. In this example, if the parent left the house to the children in the will, causing the children to become the new owners, then the children are not exempt under the RPDA and must provide the DPOR forms. However, if the will specified that the oldest son would serve as the executor to the estate, and the probate court issued the son a court order to sell the property, then the son would be serving in a fiduciary capacity and may be exempt from the RPDA.  

While ultimately it is the seller’s responsibility to comply with the requirements of the RPDA, real estate agents still have a duty to inform their clients of their obligations to provide the DPOR forms. When in doubt: disclose!