Bills, Forms & Agreements Updates
Dear Members,
The 2022 legislative session is but a dim memory for those of us already focused on potential bills for the 2023 legislative session! But there are a few bills from this year's session that have not yet gone into effect……with an effective date of January 1, 2023. Some of these are not related in any way to real estate but I included them. It's a short list so here is a brief summary. If you want to review the bill in detail, I have provided a link to the bill itself (warning: some bills may be lengthy and require perseverance to get through it all).
FAQs re: new ALTA commitment and policy forms. We are getting questions from Members about which forms are permissible to use. We have developed some guidelines based on the closing software your firm uses. Each closing software product can choose to handle the forms on a different timetable.
Here is a link to the chart with a summary of these guidelines. https://www.thefund.com/information-center/pdf/alta/alta-forms-closing-software-chart.pdf
Update: Homeowner Benefit Agreements. Remember these agreements that popped up in the public records? There was confusion about the legal implications and whether a lien against the owner's home was created. There was a fair amount of press coverage and a lot of owners were confused about what these agreements obligated them to do. You might be interested to know that Attorney General Ashley Moody has taken legal action against MV Realty, asking for injunctive and monetary relief based on deceptive, unfair and unconscionable business practices. Here's a link to her News Alert. https://www.myfloridalegal.com/newsrel.nsf/newsreleases/E9E4A2F7281415CE85258909007259EC
That's all for this week. Let me know how we can help you.
Melissa Jay Murphy
Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer,
and General Counsel
12/05/2022