There are several changes to Texas Laws that affect real estate professionals, property owners, and tenants that will go into effect January 1, 2012. One of the changes affects how buyers can get an HOA resale certificate. Another makes changes to owner’s and lender’s title policies. There are going to be changes for property owners and tenants and even changes for appealing property taxes. This is Part 1 in a series that discusses the new changes. Below is information about buyers and resale certificates. Come back to the RREA blog tomorrow for Part 2 that will discuss owner’s and lender’s title policies.
In the new year, a homebuyer purchasing a property in a subdivision (or within an homwowners association) will now have the ability to request a resale certificate directly from the homeowners association. The HOA may require the buyer to show their purchase contract for the property and may require payment before beginning work on the resale certificate. The association is now prohibited from processing the payment until the resale certificate is prepared and may not charge a fee at all if the certificate is not provided in a timely manner. Buyers will be required to pay the fee for the resale certificate unless the buyer and seller have negotiated otherwise in the sales contract. Currently, the TREC addendum provides options for delivery of the resale certificate and states the seller will pay for it. That addendum is likely to change early in 2012 to reflect the change in law. Talk to your Real Estate Agent if you have questions about this new change. The law still allows sellers, seller’s agents, and title and insurance companies to order updates to already issued resale certificates. But under the new law, a resale certificate is only good for 60 days. For any resale certificate older than that, a new one must be issued.
