July 20th, 2020 at 12:52 pm
True or False? Given that C.A.R. published a revised TDS form in June 2020, the seller must redo the TDS on the June 2020 form. Is that statement true or false?
Answer: Oh, this is a bit of a trick question! The correct answer is “False.” The seller need not redo the TDS. Even though C.A.R. released a revised TDS in June 2020, the June 2020 version is exactly the same as the previous December 2019 version (other than the date of revision).
The back story is that C.A.R. released the December 2019 version of the TDS as one of C.A.R.’s so-called minor “silent revisions,” given that the law merely added a third checkbox to Section I of the TDS. But that third checkbox turned out to be a major change after all, because effective January 1, 2020, the law mandates that a seller checks one of the 3 boxes in Section I. So to try to get the word out, C.A.R. decided to re-release the exact same form in June 2020 as a non-silent revision.
As a reminder, make sure that your seller checks one of the 3 boxes in Section I of the TDS. If the seller has inspection reports from a previous transaction, the seller should generally check Box 2 and itemize those inspection reports in the blank space provided. If the seller has no such inspection reports, the seller should generally check Box 3 to indicate that there are “no substituted disclosures for this transfer.”
-A big thank you for suggesting this week’s legal tip goes to Patty Schwartzkopf (Santa Barbara Assistant Manager and Training Director)!
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