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You're listening to REINCheck with Andrea Rice,

Contracts and Industry Specialist at REIN, where you get the latest member news

and information delivered straight from the source, REIN MLS.

Hello and welcome to REINCheck.

I'm your host, Andrea Rice, and today we are checking in with REIN Sales

Managers Advisory Committee chair Lee Cross, attorney Amy Harman, legal counsel

for REIN’s Property Managers Advisory Committee, and attorney Brandon Allred,

Legal Counsel for REIN's Sales Managers Advisory Committee to discuss the form

changes scheduled for release on July 1st, 2024.

Lee, Amy and Brandon, thank you so much for being here today.

Thanks for having us.

Hi, everyone.

Yeah, this is exciting.

I know it's been a while since

we've had this many people on one episode, so I'm really, really happy about it.

And so we're going to talk a little bit about the form changes coming July 1st.

And there are 23 forms that are being updated,

and this can sound daunting.

I know, but many of the changes are really quite simple

and are code-driven and many actually appear across multiple forms.

Andrea, 20, yeah, don't scare people with 23.

Really almost literally all the changes are code-driven

or formatting clarity type changes.

There are a couple of minor input changes,

but overall this is really a easy smooth form release.

Yes, definitely.

So do not be overwhelmed.

So let's start
with the rental form update.

So we have

two rental forms that are being updated, the lease and the rental input sheet.

So Amy, do you mind going over the changes
to the lease?

Okay.

If people were following the General
Assembly this year, it was daunting

about how many landlord
tenant bills were out there.

Many on the same categories of

driven, I think by use of electronic forms
and signatures and stuff like that.

But most of them didn't get very far
or the governor vetoed them.

But there were two
that did require some changes,

but actually rather minimal because REIN’s
form was already somewhat compliant

or was compliant

and now it's it was just easy to do it.

So in
there is now a new section of the code

55.1 dash 12 04.1.

And this is part of the people don't read

necessarily their leases, especially
if they are esigning these days.

So driven by a desire to make sure

that leases were consumer-friendly,
there were a lot of bills that required

disclosure of the fees upfront, either
by a separate provision or whatever.

The governor said,
we're not creating a whole new document,

but at least put it on the first starting
on the first page of your lease,

make sure you identify the fees that are
applicable in addition to base rent.

Well, as it turns out, REIN’s
form already had the fees starting on page

one of the lease,
but it did require the inclusion

of in paragraph one D of our lease form
a provision that says no

fee shall be collected unless it is listed
below or incorporated into this

agreement by way of a separate addendum
after execution of this rental agreement.

And that is the statutory language
that you need to include

in all your leases
going forward on July one.

And that is specific language
that will be in that new code section

55.1 12 04.1.

And then, as I said, REIN already
had a lot of these numbers already set.

Or provisions already set.

Your security deposit, your pet deposit.

We then went on to add,
just because we don't want to make

we want to make sure
that everything is covered.

And you can't say that
there's a fee buried somewhere in there.

We added a few more provisions
that you don't

really have to do anything about other
than put in the hold for rent amount.

We're just pointing the consumer,

the tenant towards places
where there's a bounce check fee,

where there's a if they're in default
or they fail to maintain something,

fail to get renters insurance
where those fees are going to be.

They're going to be responsible

as already set forth on the ways
for reimbursing the landlord.

And that is as easy it was to address

this new 55.1 12 04.1.

The second provision
that we have revised in

the lease has to do with the family
abuse domestic violence provision.

The General Assembly and the governor
have agreed to broaden that provision

and that really is giving more rights
of who is eligible to terminate the lease

if they are a victim,
if they're your tenant on the lease

and they are a victim of sexual assault,
rape, family abuse.

And so we have aligned
what is now paragraph 70 G to match

55.1 1236 as it's been revised.

So it is the first part of this provision
you're going to see

is straight from the code section.

And then we cleaned up our other language
that allows, again, the landlord,

which is already a statutory right,
a landlord to terminate.

It feels that that's warranted
and you may not want to have someone

who is a convicted rapist or has had a

or entered against them to be the tenant.

So again, releasing them from that
if the landlord so chooses,

but still being able to pursue remedies.

It also makes clear that just because
one tenant is released from the lease

because of the protective order, the entry

of a permanent order, etc.,

that the other tenants are still liable
on the lease.

They run through the original term as
stated or the initial the existing term.

But those
who are released because of an unfortunate

situation have provisions and all of that.

So that is more of a just matching up
seven G now with the current section

of section 55.1 1236

and otherwise the
there weren't many changes,

a lot of gridlock between the governor

and the two branches of the two houses
of the General Assembly.

But I would say not affecting the lease.

Just take some time to watch
for some updates on some provisions

regarding notices
and the procedural things regarding

execution of remedies
if there is a default.

But that didn't affect your lease forms.

But just keep that in mind and be prepared

that we're probably going
to see some of these issues again in 2025.

So we may be meeting again
in a year to discuss more changes.

All right, Thanks, Amy.

So, yeah, great.

So I'm glad to hear that our lease was
already, you know, where it needed to be.

So we only needed a few of these updates
with the code changes

and just a reminder for those of you
listening that,

you know, you may not use the REIN lease,
so go ahead and check your lease

to make sure
that you are in compliance as well.

And then the only other thing
on the rental side is that the rental data

input sheet had some minor updates
and what happened was

there was a text box that was added
for total additional monthly fees.

So that's a new text box
you'll see on your rental input sheet.

And then POA was renamed Common
Interest Community in the disclosure

section just to keep everything aligned
with the new updates

to the code and to align
with our other forms and approximate

additional fees was renamed
approximate additional other fees.

So that's just a minor change.

For clarification and HOA/POA checkbox

in the financials section of the input
sheet was removed

and you can see a complete red line
of those changes on REINMLS.com.

And so that's all for the rental side.

So let's move on now to the resale form
changes.

Lee, can you start by briefly covering
the changes to the data input sheets?

Sure.

So just like the rental data inputs,

we removed the Property Owners Association

POA checkbox
and put in the Common Interest Community

CIC checkbox to line up
with the rest of the resale forms

because lis pendens
is a mandated disclosure.

We also added that under the disclosures
checkboxes on the data

input sheets and carried those changes
across all six of the data input sheets.

All right, great.

And again, all of those red lines
are available online.

And as we were talking,
you know, a lot of these changes

are just carried across multiple forms.

And Lee can you

can you speak more to that?

Yes. The resale

folks do have it a lot easier this change

cycle than rental folks.

The next set of changes we have
are the agency changes,

and there's six main agency forms

and literally
all these changes are just reformatting.

We felt like

tweaking the format
some makes it easier for our clients

to understand and also for agents
to explain it to our folks.

So we have literally just reformatted.

Added some bullet points to these forms.

Yeah, really,
the number one question we have gotten

is the Standard Agency
Exclusive Right form

and we had an interactive PDF
on reinmls.com,

but with all of the feedback on that

we decided to go ahead
and just update the formatting,

which I think our members will find
is, is much easier to understand.

So just a formatting change,
but a great one at that.

And then another formatting change
was removing

the initial lines on page
two of the Seller's Possession Agreement.

We felt like we

didn't need those,
especially because the sellers and buyers

signed on that same page anyway,
so there's no need to have them both sign

and initial on the same page.

Yep, just another formatting cleanup.

And Brandon,

there were some Virginia code changes
that affected our purchase agreement.

Do you mind covering those changes for us?

Absolutely.

Happy to do that, Andrea.

So many of you are probably already aware
that there are some changes coming to

the Virginia Resale Disclosure Act
that came out of the legislature this year

and those changes will be effective
July 1st.

So let me just give you a high level
overview of what's coming.

And this is section 55.1 dash 2308

and the following code sections

you will recall that about two years

ago, Virginia changed its approach

on resale certificates
for common interest communities.

So think condominiums

and property
associate property owners associations.

Previously those concepts were dealt

with in separate provisions of the code,
and about two years ago,

all of those merged into the Virginia
Resale Disclosure Act.

So these are really some tweaks
to the Resale Disclosure Act.

Two key provisions to keep in mind.

First, Section 55.1 dash 2312,

so this is the termination
right for a purchaser following

receipt of a resale disclosure certificate
for a common interest community,

many of

you will recall that the first iteration
of the Resale

Disclosure
Act set a statutory time period.

So there is a default three day period

for the purchaser
to exercise that termination right.

But it could be extended by contract up

to a maximum of seven days.

The same concept is there,
but there is no longer

a cap on the amount of time that

termination rights can be extended.

So now if you specify if you say nothing,

your default period for the buyer
to exercise their termination

right after they receive
the resale certificate is three days.

But you can, by contract, extend that

period of time as far into the future
as you would like.

In other words, there's
no more seven day cap on that time period.

So that's the first new change.

The second change, and it's referenced

a couple places throughout the code,

but it really addresses

how the resale certificate is delivered

and who has the right to accept delivery
of that resale certificate.

Previously, this was something that just
occurred between the seller and the buyer,

at least that was the original iteration
of the Virginia Resale Disclosure Act.

Now there's the possibility for a buyer

to designate the buyer's agent to receive

and accept
that resale disclosure certificate.

Very important because the purchasers

right to terminate that three day

timeline or whatever timeline
the parties agree upon by contract

in excess of three days starts to run
now from the date that either the buyer

or the buyer's agent receives
the resale disclosure certificate.

So with those code changes as a backdrop,

if you look to the form purchase agreement

and in

the Standard Purchase Agreement,
this comes up in section 14 A,

you'll see those changes made throughout.

Just clarifying that either
the buyer or the buyer's agent

as designated by the buyer
can receive the resale certificate

and then building in that optionality

or the buyer and the seller

to agree to some period of time
greater than three days

for the buyer's termination
right after receipt of the resale

disclosure certificate, if that's
what the parties would like to do.

Consistent with the code,
if they make no changes,

if they just leave the language as is

you get the three day
standard period pursuant to the statute.

But you can always elect to do something
greater than three days

and you will see these changes also flow

through to the purchase agreements
for new constructs.

They appear in section
13 D of that agreement

and the purchase agreement
for unimproved lots

and they flow through to section
eight A in that agreement.

So those are your Resale

Disclosure
Act updates to the purchase agreements.

It sounds like a lot,
but it's all very straightforward.

You'll see minimal red ink on the forms
to deal with those changes.

The code changes
also affect two other forms.

So most of you will remember

two years ago when the Resale Disclosure
Act came into being

we decided to reformat

the request forms that relate to common

interest community resale certificates

and then from the verification of receipt
forms or the acknowledgment forms

that are used in conjunction
with that process as well.

So there's one change to each form.

First,
we are on the request form, adding a line

where the buyer can designate an agent

as the intended recipient
of the resale disclosure certificate.

So that's consistent
with the code changes.

And then on both forms,

we are clarifying how the termination
right applies

and really the date from which
the termination period begins to run,

which is the date of receipt
of that resale

disclosure certificate by the buyer
or the buyer's agent.

So we just want that to be very clear
to all the parties involved

in the transaction.

One other

even more minor change that comes out
as a result of these code changes

is in the CDIF.

Many of you will remember that
the CDIF includes just

a general disclosure of how the resale

certificate process works and what rights

for buyers result

from resale disclosure certificates

if you're in a common interest community,

and we've just clarified
that buyer's agents can receive

the resale disclosure certificate
on behalf of the buyer in the CDIF.

And really that's everything
that comes from those code changes.

All right. So thank you, Brandon.

And so some minor updates,
they're just code-driven.

And then there were some edits
to the Standard Listing Agreement.

Yes, and I can talk about those as well.

So if you look to section
4 C of the Standard Listing Agreement,

you will see a minor change that

really deals with the

sellers agreement to

make their properties available
for showings to prospective buyers.

Previously, the language in that section

had spoken in terms of cooperation,

and we had some comments
that it was a little bit unclear

what that meant,
particularly given the forms

changes from February that

really altered the approach
on compensation and commissions.

So we just wanted to clarify
in Section 4 C

that we're not talking about compensation,
we're not talking about commissions,

we're really just talking
about the logistics and the mechanics

of how property is shown

and the agreement and covenants
that sellers undertake to cooperate

in making property available
to be shown to prospective buyers.

So that's really all that's happening
in section 4 C.

Right. Great.

Thank you for that explanation, Brandon.

And really there's just one more change,
and that was to the summary of rights

and obligations of sellers

and purchasers under the Virginia
Residential Property Disclosure Act.

And that form is
commonly called the Chapter Seven Form.

Right.

And we just added in a paragraph
to make sure that form matches up

with the disclosures that come out
from the state on their official forms,

is really just confirming that the seller
is not making any disclosures

about the lot lines and where they are and
what may or may not be on the property.

All right.

Thanks, Lee, and

thank you, Amy. Thank you, Brandon.

A lot of great information for everyone

for those forms
coming out July 1st of 2024.

And again, complete
red lines are available on REINMLS.com.

I really, really appreciate you
taking the time to be here with us today.

And I really want to thank all of you
for taking the time to listen

and stay informed.
If you have any suggestions

for SMAC or PMAC
please submit them to SMAC@reininc.com

and I will make

sure that your suggestion
gets on an upcoming meeting agenda

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Thank you
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