Senate Bill No. 597
(By Senator Bowman)
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[Introduced February 18, 1998; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact chapter forty-six-a of the code of
West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, by adding thereto a new article, designated article
six-e, relating to requiring disclosure of known defects by
sellers of real or personal property; and creating
violations and penalties.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That chapter forty-six-a of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended by
adding thereto a new article, designated article six-e, to read
as follows:
ARTICLE 6E. REAL AND PERSONAL PROPERTY.
§46A-6E-1. Duty to disclose known defects.
Before the consummation of any transaction between an owner, seller or vendor of any real or personal property and a buyer in
which the intended transaction is for an amount in excess of one
thousand five hundred dollars it shall be required of the owner,
seller or vendor to disclose any known defect, damage, liability,
nuisance or condition that materially and deleteriously affects
the value, use, habitability, safety or future marketability of
the real or personal property. In the case of real property, the
attorney general shall create a form which requires the seller
and seller's agent to state under oath whether any known defect,
damage, liability, nuisance or condition exists on the property,
and if so, what the nature of the defect, damage, liability,
nuisance or condition is. The form shall be completed and
incorporated by attachment to the loan agreement or sales
agreement involved in the transaction.
§46A-6E-2. Violations; penalties.
Any person who violates the provisions of this article is
guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be
fined not more than five hundred dollars. In the case of any
real property or any personal property valued in excess of ten
thousand dollars, any person who intentionally and fraudulently
misrepresents that no defect, damage, liability, nuisance or
condition exists which materially and deleteriously affects the
value, use or future marketability of the real or personal property, when he or she knows or has reason to know that such a
defect, damage, liability, nuisance or condition does exist is
guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined
not more than five thousand dollars or confined to a correctional
institution for no less than one nor more than two years, or both
fined and confined.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide a requirement
that sellers of personal or real property disclose known defects
to potential buyers. The bill sets forth misdemeanor and felony
provisions and respective penalties.
This article is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.