STAND. COM. REP. NO 547

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                

 

RE:    S.B. No. 17

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection, to which was referred S.B. No. 17 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO REAL ESTATE SELLER DISCLOSURE,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to clarify that the required disclosure of documents by a seller for a residential real property that is subject to restrictions or conditions on use applies to documents that are within a seller's knowledge or control.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Association of REALTORS.

 

     Your Committee finds that various sections in chapter 508D, Hawaii Revised Statutes, were amended in 2013 to, among other things, establish a uniform standard of disclosure for consumers and real estate licensees involved in planned community association, condominium project, and cooperative housing corporation transactions.  However, concerns have been raised that the amended disclosure requirements under chapter 508D, Hawaii Revised Statutes, created a burden upon sellers who may not have knowledge or control of unrecorded rules or guidelines.

 

     Your Committee further finds that buyers are protected by an existing statutory duty that requires sellers to act in good faith and disclose all material facts.  This measure does not affect that existing duty but rather clarifies that the requirement to disclose documents applies to those documents within a seller's knowledge or control.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 17 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection,

 

 

 

________________________________

ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair