Residential Real Estate Sales Disclosure Statement
South Carolina Law Summary -
Seller's Disclosure
Residential Property Condition Disclosure Act
SECTION 2. Title 27 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding:
CHAPTER 50. The Residential Property Condition Disclosure Act
Article 1. Residential Property Condition Disclosure Statements
Section 27-50-10. As used in this article:
(1) 'Commission' means the South Carolina Real Estate Commission.
(2) 'Disclosure statement' means a residential property condition disclosure
statement written on a form as required by this article and as promulgated
by regulations of the commission.
(3) 'Listing agent' means a real estate licensee who represents an owner
of real property in the sale, lease, or other transfer of the subject real
property through the use of a written listing agreement as required by
law.
(4) 'Owner' means each person having a recorded present or future interest
in real estate who is identified in a real estate contract subject to this
article, but does not include the owner or holder of a mortgage, deed of
trust, mechanic's or materialman's lien, or other lien or security interest
in the real property. This disclosure is limited to the actual residential
dwelling and does not address common elements or areas for which the owner
has no direct and primary responsibility.
(5) 'Purchaser' means each person or entity named as a purchaser, buyer,
or tenant in a real estate contract subject to this article.
(6) 'Real estate contract' means a contract for the transfer of ownership
of real property.
(7) 'Real estate licensee' means an individual licensed under Title
40, Chapter 57.
(8) 'Real property' means the lot or parcel and the dwelling unit described
in a real estate contract subject to this article.
(9) 'Selling agent' means a real estate licensee who represents a purchaser
of real property through the use of a written agency agreement as required
by law, a real estate licensee who is a subagent as defined by law who
represents the owner, or a dual agent as defined by law who represents
both the purchaser and owner.
Section 27-50-20. This article applies to the following transfers of
residential real property consisting of at least one but not more than
four dwelling units:
(1) sale or exchange;
(2) installment land sales contract;
(3) lease with an option to purchase contract.
Section 27-50-30. This article does not apply to transfers:
(1) pursuant to court order including transfers in administration of
an estate, pursuant to a writ of execution, by foreclosure sale, by a trustee
in bankruptcy, by a receiver, by eminent domain, and resulting from a decree
for specific performance;
(2) to a mortgagee from the mortgagor or his successor in interest in
a mortgage if the indebtedness is in default, by a trustee pursuant to
a deed of trust or to a mortgagee pursuant to a mortgage if the indebtedness
is in default, by a trustee under a mortgagee pursuant to a foreclosure
sale, or by a mortgagee who has acquired the real property at a sale conducted
pursuant to a judgment and order of foreclosure;
(3) by a fiduciary in the course of the administration of a decedent's
estate, guardianship, conservatorship, or trust;
(4) from one or more co-owners solely to one or more other co-owners;
(5) made solely to a spouse or a person or persons in the lineal line
of consanguinity of one or more transferors;
(6) between spouses resulting from a divorce decree or support order
or marital property distribution order;
(7) made by virtue of the record owner's failure to pay federal, state,
or local taxes;
(8) to or from the federal government;
(9) to the State, its agencies and departments, and its political subdivisions
including school districts;
(10) involving the first sale of a dwelling never inhabited;
(11) real property sold at public auction;
(12) to a residential trust; and
(13) between parties when both parties agree in writing not to complete
a disclosure statement.
Section 27-50-40. (A) The owner of the real property shall furnish to
a purchaser a written disclosure statement. The disclosure statement must
contain the language and be in the form promulgated by the commission and
the form may be delivered electronically through the Internet or other
similar methods. The commission may charge a reasonable fee for the printed
form but shall post the form for free downloading on its public website.
The disclosure statement must include, but is not limited to, the following
characteristics and conditions of the property:
(1) the water supply and sanitary sewage disposal system;
(2) the roof, chimneys, floors, foundation, basement, and other structural
components and modifications of these structural components;
(3) the plumbing, electrical, heating, cooling, and other mechanical
systems;
(4) present infestation of wood-destroying insects or organisms or past
infestation, the damage from which has not been repaired;
(5) the zoning laws, restrictive covenants, building codes, and other
land-use restrictions affecting the real property, any encroachment of
the real property from or to adjacent real property, and notice from a
governmental agency affecting this real property;
(6) presence of lead-based paint, asbestos, radon gas, methane gas,
underground storage tank, hazardous material or toxic material, buried
or covered, and other environmental contamination; or
(7) existence of a rental, rental management, vacation rental, or other
lease contract in place on the property at the time of closing, and, if
known, any outstanding charges owed by the tenant for gas, electric, water,
sewerage, or garbage services provided to the property the tenant leases.
(B) The disclosure statement must give the owner the option to indicate
that the owner has actual knowledge of the specified characteristics or
conditions, or that the owner is making no representations as to any characteristic
or condition.
(C) The rights of the parties to a real estate contract in connection
with conditions of the property of which the owner has no actual or constructive
knowledge are not affected by this article.
Section 27-50-50. (A) The owner of real property subject to this article
shall deliver to the purchaser the disclosure form required by this article
before a real estate contract is signed by the purchaser and owner, or
as otherwise agreed in the real estate contract.
(B) Failure to provide the disclosure form required by this article
to the purchaser does not:
(1) void the agreement;
(2) create a defect in title; or
(3) present a valid reason to delay or otherwise interfere with the
closing of a real estate transaction by a party including a closing attorney
or lender.
(C) A real estate licensee acting as a listing agent or a selling agent
is subject to the regulations governing his license and performance of
his responsibilities as licensee, as provided by the commission. This article
does not limit any other remedy available to the purchaser under law.
Section 27-50-60. If the owner discovers, after his delivery of a disclosure
statement to a purchaser, a material inaccuracy in the disclosure statement
or the disclosure is rendered inaccurate in a material way by the occurrence
of some event or circumstance, the owner shall correct promptly the inaccuracy
by delivering a corrected disclosure statement to the purchaser or make
reasonable repairs necessitated by the occurrence before closing.
Section 27-50-65. An owner who knowingly violates or fails to perform
any duty prescribed by any provision of this article or who discloses any
material information on the disclosure statement that he knows to be false,
incomplete, or misleading is liable for actual damages proximately caused
to the purchaser and court costs. The court may award reasonable attorney
fees incurred by the prevailing party.
Section 27-50-70. (A) A listing agent or any real estate licensee operating
for any party in a residential real estate transaction must inform in writing
each owner covered by the listing agreement of the owner's obligations
prescribed in this article. If the listing agent performs this duty, he
is not liable for the owner's refusal or failure to provide a prospective
purchaser with a disclosure statement.
(B) This article does not conflict with or alter the duties of the real
estate licensee pursuant to the regulations of the commission. The real
estate licensee, whether acting as the listing agent or selling agent,
is not liable to a purchaser if:
(1) the owner provides the purchaser with a disclosure form that contains
false, incomplete, or misleading information; and
(2) the real estate licensee did not know or have reasonable cause to
suspect the information was false, incomplete, or misleading.
Section 27-50-80. This article does not limit the obligation of the
purchaser to inspect the physical condition of the property and improvements
that are the subject of a contract covered by this article. The real estate
licensee, whether acting as listing agent or selling agent, has no duty
to inspect the onsite or offsite conditions of the property and any improvements.
Section 27-50-90. (A) An owner is not required to disclose the fact
or suspicion that a property may be or is psychologically affected, as
described in subsection (B).
(B) A cause of action may not arise against an owner of real estate
in a covered transaction for failure to disclose:
(1) that the subject real estate is or was occupied by an individual
who was infected with a virus or other disease which has been determined
by medical evidence to be highly unlikely to be transmitted through his
occupancy of a dwelling place; or
(2) that the death of an occupant of a property has occurred or the
manner of the death; or
(3) public information from the sex offender registry as defined in
Article 7, Title 23.
(C) Subsection (B) does not preclude an action against an owner of real
estate who makes intentional misrepresentations in response to direct inquiry
from a purchaser or prospective purchaser with regard to psychological
effects or stigmas associated with the real estate.
Section 27-50-100. This article does not affect the landlord-tenant
relationship between the parties to a lease with an option-to-purchase
contract during the term of the lease, and the rights of the landlords
and tenants pursuant to the South Carolina Residential Landlord and Tenant
Act remain in effect until transfer of ownership of the property to the
purchaser.
Section 27-50-110. Nothing in this article is intended to prevent the
parties to a contract of sale from entering into agreements of any kind
or nature with respect to the physical condition of the property to be
sold including, but not limited to, agreements for the sale of real property
'as is'.
