North Carolina General Statutes § 47E-4 Required disclosures

(a)        With regard to transfers described in G.S. 47E-1, the owner of the real property shall furnish to a purchaser a residential property disclosure statement. The disclosure statement shall:

(1)        Disclose those items which are required to be disclosed relative to the characteristics and condition of the property and of which the owner has actual knowledge; or

(2)        State that the owner makes no representations as to the characteristics and condition of the real property or any improvements to the real property except as otherwise provided in the real estate contract.

(b)        The North Carolina Real Estate Commission shall develop and require the use of a standard disclosure statement to comply with the requirements of this section. The disclosure statement shall specify that certain transfers of residential property are excluded from this requirement by G.S. 47E-2, including transfers of residential property made pursuant to a lease with an option to purchase where the lessee occupies or intends to occupy the dwelling, and shall include at least the following characteristics and conditions of the property:

(1)        The water supply and sanitary sewage disposal system;

(2)        The roof, chimneys, floors, foundation, basement, and other structural components and any modifications of these structural components;

(3)        The plumbing, electrical, heating, cooling, and other mechanical systems;

(4)        Present infestation of wood-destroying insects or organisms or past infestation the damage for which has not been repaired;

(5)        The zoning laws, restrictive covenants, building codes, and other land-use restrictions affecting the real property, any encroachment of the real property from or to adjacent real property, and notice from any governmental agency affecting this real property; and

(6)        Presence of lead-based paint, asbestos, radon gas, methane gas, underground storage tank, hazardous material or toxic material (whether buried or covered), and other environmental contamination.

The disclosure statement shall provide the owner with the option to indicate whether the owner has actual knowledge of the specified characteristics or conditions, or the owner is making no representations as to any characteristic or condition.

(b1)      With regard to transfers described in G.S. 47E-1, the owner of the real property shall furnish to a purchaser an owners' association and mandatory covenants disclosure statement.

(1)        The North Carolina Real Estate Commission shall develop and require the use of a standard disclosure statement to comply with the requirements of this subsection. The disclosure statement shall specify that certain transfers of residential property are excluded from this requirement by G.S. 47E-2, including transfers of residential property made pursuant to a lease with an option to purchase where the lessee occupies or intends to occupy the dwelling. The standard disclosure statement shall require disclosure of whether or not the property to be conveyed is subject to regulation by one or more owners' association(s) and governing documents which impose various mandatory covenants, conditions, and restrictions upon the property, including, but not limited to, obligations to pay regular assessments or dues and special assessments. The statement required by this subsection shall include information on all of the following:

a.         The name, address, telephone number, or e-mail address for the president or manager of the association to which the lot is subject.

b.         The amount of any regular assessments or dues to which the lot is subject.

c.         Whether there are any services that are paid for by regular assessments or dues to which the lot is subject.

d.         Whether, as of the date the disclosure is signed, there are any assessments, dues, fees, or special assessments which have been duly approved as required by the applicable declaration or bylaws, payable to an association to which the lot is subject.

e.         Whether, as of the date the disclosure is signed, there are any unsatisfied judgments against or pending lawsuits involving the lot, the planned community or the association to which the lot is subject, with the exception of any action filed by the association for the collection of delinquent assessments on lots other than the lot to be sold.

f.          Any fees charged by an association or management company to which the lot is subject in connection with the conveyance or transfer of the lot to a new owner.

(2)        The owners' association and mandatory covenants disclosure statement shall provide the owner with the option to indicate whether the owner has actual knowledge of the specified characteristics, or conditions or the owner is making no representations as to any characteristic or condition contained in the statement.

(b2)      With regard to transfers described in G.S. 47E-1, the owner of the real property shall include in any real estate contract, an oil and gas rights mandatory disclosure as provided in this subsection:

(1)        Transfers of residential property set forth in G.S. 47E-2 are excluded from this requirement, except that the exemptions provided under subdivisions (9) and (11) of G.S. 47E-2 specifically are not excluded from this requirement.

(2)        The disclosure shall be conspicuous, shall be in boldface type, and shall be as follows:

OIL AND GAS RIGHTS DISCLOSURE

Oil and gas rights can be severed from the title to real property by conveyance (deed) of the oil and gas rights from the owner or by reservation of the oil and gas rights by the owner. If oil and gas rights are or will be severed from the property, the owner of those rights may have the perpetual right to drill, mine, explore, and remove any of the subsurface oil or gas resources on or from the property either directly from the surface of the property or from a nearby location. With regard to the severance of oil and gas rights, Seller makes the following disclosures:

                                                                                                   Yes     No     No Representation

___________        1.   Oil and gas rights were severed from     __      __      __

Buyer Initials              the property by a previous owner.

                                                                                                   Yes     No

___________        2.   Seller has severed the oil and gas           __      __

Buyer Initials              rights from the property.

                                                                                                   Yes     No

___________        3.   Seller intends to sever the oil and           __      __

Buyer Initials              gas rights from the property prior to

transfer of title to Buyer.

(c)        The rights of the parties to a real estate contract as to conditions of the property of which the owner had no actual knowledge are not affected by this Article unless the residential disclosure statement or the owners' association and mandatory covenants disclosure statement, as applicable, states that the owner makes no representations as to those conditions. If the statement states that an owner makes no representations as to the conditions of the property, then the owner has no duty to disclose those conditions, whether or not the owner should have known of them.  (1995, c. 476, s. 1.; 1997-472, s. 1; 2011-362, s. 3(b); 2012-143, s. 5.)

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Last modified: March 23, 2014