(a) Where the regulation of a subdivision development is the responsibility of the municipal planning commission, if the owner or agent of the owner of any land located within a subdivision conveys, transfers, or sells any land by reference to or exhibition of or by other use of a plat of a subdivision before the plat has been approved by the appropriate commission, department, or agency of any municipality requiring such approval and recorded or filed in the office of the appropriate county probate office, the owner or agent shall forfeit and pay a penalty of one hundred dollars ($100) for each lot or parcel so transferred and the description of the lot or parcel by metes and bounds in the instrument of transfer or other document used in the process of selling or transferring shall not exempt the transaction from the penalties or from the remedies provided in this section.
(b) The municipality may enjoin the conveyance, transfer, or sale by a civil action for injunction brought in any court of competent jurisdiction or may recover the same penalty provided in this section by a civil action in any court of competent jurisdiction.
(c) Where the county commission is responsible for regulation of subdivision development within the territorial jurisdiction of a municipal planning commission, enforcement of the subdivision regulations of the county shall be as provided in Chapter 24, and any penalties assessed against a developer for failure to comply with the subdivision regulations of the county shall be as provided therein.
(d) Nothing in this section shall impair, impede, or prohibit any person or entity from entering into any otherwise valid and enforceable contract for the purchase or sale of any lot within any proposed subdivision prior to its approval.
Last modified: May 3, 2021