Req. No. 8477 Page 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 STATE OF OKLAHOMA 2nd Session of the 58th Legis lature (2022) HOUSE BILL 2977 By: Olsen AS INTRODUCED An Act relating to property; enacting the Oklahoma Road Maintenance Duty Disclosure and Release Act; defining terms; requiring seller of real property to deliver disclosure of duty to maintain roads statement to purchaser in certain circumstances; specifying content of disclosure of duty to maintain roads statement; specifying time period for completing disclosure of duty to maintain roads statement; requiring disclosure of duty to maintain roads statement be delivered and a release of liability form to be completed prior to acceptance of offer; requiring Oklahoma Real Estate Commission to develop and amend forms and make forms available to certain persons; requiring certain written acknowledgment and release to accept offer to purchase; providing immunity from liability for stated duty of road maintenance and inaccurate information under certain conditions; allowing certain information to s atisfy requirements of disclosure; limiting recovery in civil action to certain events; limiting remedy; stating statute of limitation; providing for certain c osts and fees; limiting effect of noncompliance; stating application of act and exempting certain transfers; construing act; stating standard for disclosures and acknowledgments; providing for codification; a nd providing an effective date. BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA: Req. No. 8477 Page 2 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 SECTION 1. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 1110 of Title 60, unless there is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows: This act shall be known and may be cited as the "Oklahoma Road Maintenance Duty Disclosure and Release Act". SECTION 2. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 1111 of Title 60, unless there is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows: As used in this act: 1. "Contract" means a real estate purchase contract for the sale, conveyance or exchange of property, option to purchase property, or a lease with an option to pur chase property; 2. "Disclosure" means a written declaration , based on actual knowledge of the seller , regarding a duty held by the property owner to maintain roads. A disclosure for purposes of this act is not a warranty, implied or express ed, of any kind; 3. "Disclosure of duty to maintain roads statement" means the statement described in subsec tion A of Section 3 of this act; 4. "Offer to purchase" means an offer to purchase real property made by a purchaser pursuant to a written contract; 5. "Person" means an individual, corporation, limited liability company, partnership, association, trust or other legal entity or any combination thereof; Req. No. 8477 Page 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 6. "Property" means any type of real property, whether it is agricultural, commercial or residential; 7. "Purchaser" means one or more persons who are attempting to acquire a possessory interest in real property; 8. "Real estate licensee" means a person licensed under the Oklahoma Real Estate License Code; 9. "Release of liability form" means the form described in subsection B of Section 3 of this act ; 10. "Seller" means one or more persons who are attempting to transfer a possessory interest in real property and who may or may not be represented by a real estate licensee ; and 11. "Transfer" means a sale, conveyance, exchange or option to purchase a possessory interest in real property by written instrument in exchange for consideration. SECTION 3. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 1112 of Title 60, unless there is created a duplication i n numbering, reads as follows: A. A seller of property located in thi s state shall deliver, or cause to be delivered, to the purchaser of such property a disclosure of duty to maintain roads statement if, and only if, the property being sold borders public roads that are not maintained by a municipality, county, county comm issioner, or the state but is instead the duty of the property owner to maintain. A disclosure of duty to maintain roads statement shall be in writing and shall giv e Req. No. 8477 Page 4 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 the street name as well as a description of the location and boundaries of the portion of the roads that the property owner must maintain. The disclosure of duty to maintain roads statement required by this section must be completed, signed and dated by the sell er. The date of completion on the disclosure of duty to m aintain roads statement may not be more than one hundred eighty (180) days prior to the date of receipt of the disclosure of duty to maintain roads statement by the purchaser. B. After receiving a disclosure of duty to maintain roads statement, a purchaser may, if they wish to co ntinue with the purchase of the real property, complete a release of li ability form by signing, dating and returning the form to the seller. By completing and returning a release of liability form, the purchaser acknowledges and accepts the duty of maintaining the roads for the property as disclosed by the disclosure of duty to maintain roads statement, waiving any rights to hold the seller liable for any road maintenance or repair. C. The Oklahoma Real Estate Commission sh all develop by rule the forms for the disclosure of duty to maintain roads statement and release of liability form . After development of the initial forms, the Oklahoma Real Estate Commission may amend the forms as is necessary and appropriate. Req. No. 8477 Page 5 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Such forms shall be made available upon re quest irrespective of whether the person requesting a disclosure of duty to maintain roads statement or release of liability form is represented by a real estate licensee. SECTION 4. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 1113 of Title 60, unless there is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows: A. A seller, when required by this act, should deliver the disclosure of duty to maintain roads st atement and a release of liability form to the purchaser as soon as practicable, but in any event it shall be delivered before acceptance of an offer to purchase. B. If the disclosure of duty to maintain roads statement is delivered to the purchaser after an offer to purchase has been made, the offer to purchase shall be accepted only after the purchaser has acknowledged receipt of the disclosure of duty to maintain roads statement and confirmed the offer to purchase by returning to the seller the release of liability form. C. The purchaser shall acknowledge in writing receipt of the disclosure of duty to maintain roads statement and any amendments to the disclosure of duty to maintain roads statement . The purchaser shall sign and date any acknowledgment and subsequent release of liability form. Such acknowledgment and release of liability form Req. No. 8477 Page 6 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 should accompany the o ffer to purchase the property and shall be promptly delivered to the seller. SECTION 5. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified in the Oklahoma Statute s as Section 1114 of Title 60, unless there is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows: A. The seller shall not be liable for needed road maintenance if the existence of the duty to maintain the roads was disclosed in the disclosure of duty t o maintain roads statement delivered to the purchaser before acceptance of the offer to purchase. B. The seller shall not be liable for any erroneous, inaccurate or omitted information supplied t o the purchaser in the disclosure of duty to maintain roads statement, as required by this act , if: 1. The error, inaccuracy or omission results from an approximation of information by the seller, provided: a. accurate information was unknown to the seller at the time the disclosure was made, b. the approximation was clearly identified as such and was reasonable and based on the best information available to the seller, and c. the approximation was not used to circumvent the disclosure requirements of this a ct; 2. The error, inaccuracy or omission was not within t he actual knowledge of the seller; or Req. No. 8477 Page 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 3. The disclosure was based on information provided by public agencies and the seller reasonably believed the information to be correct. C. The delivery by a public agency of information concerning the duty of road maintenance as required to be disclosed by the seller of the property shall satisfy the requirements of this act . SECTION 6. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 1115 of Title 60, unless there is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows: A. The purchaser may recover in a civil action only in the event of the seller failing to provide the purchaser with a disclosure of duty to maintain roads state ment prior to acceptance of an offer to purchase, if, and only if, the seller was required to do so by this act and the duty to maintain the roads was actually known to the seller prior to the acce ptance of an offer to purchase . B. The sole and exclusive civil reme dy at common law or otherwise for a failure under subsection A of this section by the seller or the real estate licensee shall be actual damages, including the cost of repairing or maintaining the roads, suffered by the purchaser as a result of needed road maintenance existing as of the date of acceptance by the seller of an offer to purchase and shall not include the remedy of exemplary damages. Req. No. 8477 Page 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 C. Any action brought under this act shall be commenced within two (2) years after the date of transfer of real property subject to this act. D. In any civil action brought under this act, the prevailing party shall be allowed court costs and a reasonable attorney fee to be set by the court and to be collected as costs. E. A transfer of a possessory interest in p roperty subject to this act may not be invalidated solely because of the failure of any person to comply with this act. F. This act applies to, regulates and determines rights, duties, obligations and remedies at common law or otherwise of the seller, the real estate licensee and the purchaser with respect to disclosure of duty of road maintenance and supplants and abrogates all common law liability, rights, duties, obligations and remedies therefor. SECTION 7. NEW LAW A new sectio n of law to be codified in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 1116 of Title 60, unless there is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows: This act does not apply to: 1. Transfers pursuant to court order, including, but not limited to, transfers pursuant to a writ of execution, transfers by eminent domain and transfers pursuant to an order for partition; 2. Transfers to a mortgagee by a mortgagor or successor in interest who is in default, transfers by any foreclosure sale after Req. No. 8477 Page 9 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 default in an obligation secured by a mortgage, transfers by a mortgagee's sale under a power of sale after default in an obligation secured by any instrument containing a power of sale, or transfers by a mortgagee who has acquired the real property at a sale conducted pursuant to a power of sale or a sale pursuant to a decree of foreclosure or has acquired the real property by deed in lieu of foreclosure; 3. Transfers by a fiduciary who is not an owner occupant of the subject property in the course of the administration o f a decedent's estate, guardianship, conservatorship or trust; 4. Transfers from one co -owner to one or more other co -owners; 5. Transfers made to a spouse, or to the person or persons in the lineal line of consanguinity of one or more of the owners; 6. Transfers between spouses resulting from a decree of dissolution of marriage or a decree of legal separation or from a property settlement agreement incidental to such a decree; 7. Transfers made pursuant to mergers and from a subsidiary to a parent or the reverse; or 8. Transfers or exchanges to or from any governmental entity. SECTION 8. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 1117 of Title 60, unless there is created a duplication in numb ering, reads as follows: Disclosures required under this act need not be sworn to, verified or acknowledged. Req. No. 8477 Page 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 SECTION 9. This act shall become effective November 1, 2022. 58-2-8477 JL 10/15/21