Each week the local REALTOR Association has a Friday Q&A email that highlights a recent question in to the legal hotline attorney, Annie Fitzsimmons. In this past week's question an agent asked about a house that she'll be listing originally built in 1970 but which had a major, permitted remodel in 2003.
The agent wants to know what "year built" she can advertise for the home since the home now looks more current after its nip/tuck. Annie's reply goes into a whole bunch of her personal opinions and issues about liability for stating the wrong year and how to handle it, including getting the seller to sign an indemnification of the agent and their broker, but I think it missed the mark a little bit because Annie only has to reply based on REALTOR issues. I don't know if they'll repost or look into it as I suggested, but the local Northwest MLS (which covers the major Puget Sound region) actually requires that we use the original date of construction, with no if, and, or buts.
If you are a consumer who is doing a major alteration to a property, you'll want to be aware of this as you don't want to misrepresent the age of a building's original construction. If you are an agent, be sure to always check your local area rules and laws with regard to this type of situation.
Each week the local REALTOR Association has a Friday Q&A email that highlights a recent question in to the legal hotline attorney, Annie Fitzsimmons. In this week's question an agent asks about a house that they'll be listing that was originally built in 1970 but had a major, permitted remodel in 2003.
The agent wants to know what "year built" she can advertise for the home. Annie's reply goes into a whole bunch of issues about liability for stating the wrong year and how to handle it, including getting the seller to sign an indemnification of the agent and their broker. I don't know if they'll repost or look into it as I suggested, but the local MLS actually requires that we use the original date of construction, with no if, and, or buts.
If you are a consumer who is doing a major alteration to a property, you'll want to be aware of this. If you are an agent, be sure to always check your local area rules and laws with regard to this type of situation.
We have permission from PSCA to redistribute their newsletters that they send out via email. With so many of the initiative and news they provide affecting local homes in our greater Seattle area, it's worth getting the word out to as many people as possible. Especially given our really dry conditions this summer. Be safe when burning any kind of material and make sure it's legal to do so!
In this issue:
‘Tis (NOT) the season for smoky barbeques and marshmallow roasts
With the warmer and longer days of summer, it's hard to ignore the desire to spend more time outdoors. Add the eagerness of fathers wanting to break-in new fire bowls or grills they recently received for Father's Day, and you have a multitude of barbeques and marshmallow roasts happening in neighborhoods. ‘Tis the season. It's also the time of year we hear from neighbors about their neighbor's smoky, outdoor fire.
Here are some of the frequently asked questions we receive about recreational fires:
My neighborhood is full of chiminea-type fire pits, and my house smells like a campfire every night. How can I educate my neighborhood about outdoor burning laws and wood smoke health risks?
We find that, in general, neighbor-to-neighbor communication is most effective in prompting change. Many times this kind of behavior can be changed just by expressing your concern, and providing the following information:
Does the regulation about it being illegal to smoke out your neighbor apply to charcoal barbeque fires?
Yes. Cooking fires are recreational fires. If smoke from your fire bothers your neighbors, damages their property or otherwise causes a nuisance, you must immediately put it out.
Our neighbors had a fire in their outdoor fire pit that they didn't put out all of the way before going to bed. We smelled smoke all night long since we slept with our windows open. Can you tell us what can be done?
Inform your neighbors that the fire must be extinguished before leaving it. Leaving an outdoor fire unattended is a fire hazard and can cause a nuisance.
To learn the rules about recreational fires, go to www.pscleanair.org/actions/outdoorfires/recreational.aspx .
Clean air tip: If you're in the market for a recreational fire device, consider an air-friendly alternative to a smoky, wood-fueled chimnea or fire bowl. A variety of fire pits or patio heaters that burn natural gas or propane are available from your local hearth retailer, home-improvement store, mass retailer and online - at any price point. With one of these clean, efficient units, there'll be little or no smoke for your neighbors to complain about.
Cleaner heat means cleaner air as Wood Stove Replacement Program wraps up
People living in Darrington, Marysville, Everett, Tacoma and its surrounding Pierce County communities will be heating a lot cleaner, and hopefully breathing a bit easier, next heating season. That's because 555 old, uncertified wood stoves were replaced with cleaner heating devices in our agency's 2008-2009 Puget Sound Wood Stove Replacement Program.
Program participants opted to replace their old, polluting wood stoves with a new, certified wood, pellet, natural gas or propane stove or insert; or remove their wood stove altogether and opt for a new, high-efficiency furnace or heat pump. Taking into account that the new heating appliances are cleaner operating and will burn less wood or a cleaner-burning fuel, an estimated 36,000 pounds of fine particle pollution will NOT be emitted annually thanks to the replacements that were made in these communities. For the Tacoma-Pierce County area, the emission reduction means over 25,000 pounds less fine particle pollution, while in Snohomish County, it's over 10,000 pounds less fine particle pollution annually.
Old uncertified wood stoves produce excessive wood smoke, and wood smoke can be more than 80 percent of the air quality problem in neighborhoods on winter nights. This wood smoke is made up of fine particles and a toxic mix of other carcinogens that are hazardous to human health. Fine particles are associated with serious health effects, as the tiny size of these pollutants allows them to be easily inhaled, bypassing the immune system and proceeding deep into your lungs, where they can cause respiratory and cardiovascular problems, including premature death.
The goal of the program has been to bring Tacoma and surrounding Pierce County communities closer to meeting federal health-based air quality standards, and to keep the Darrington and Marysville areas from violating these standards.
The Marysville and Tacoma-Pierce County programs were funded thanks to a Department of Ecology grant. The 2008 Washington Legislature provided this funding to be directed to communities needing to address fine particle pollution in order to maintain or regain attainment of federal air quality standards. The Darrington and Everett programs were funded from civil penalties paid by businesses that violated clean-air rules.
Our thanks go out to all our partners who helped make this program a success and to all the participants who were willing to make a change toward cleaner home heating.
We hope to offer a Wood Stove Replacement Program again next heating season, dependent on additional grant funding. If you want to be alerted when details become available, just sign up using our online form at www.pscleanair.org/programs/community/woodstove.replacement/regform.aspx . We'll be in touch in late summer or early fall.
Reminder: Permanent ban on land-clearing burning in Kitsap County takes effect in September
Effective Sept. 1, 2009, land-clearing burning will no longer be allowed in Kitsap County.
This permanent ban, brought about by the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency, was adopted by the agency's Board of Directors on April 23, 2009, following a public workshop, public comment period and public hearing. Prior to this action, land-clearing fires were prohibited only in the urbanized areas of Kitsap County.
The Clean Air Agency Board took similar action last February 2008 by adopting a permanent ban on land-clearing burning in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties which became effective July 1, 2008.
"Land clearing burning" means outdoor burning of trees, stumps, shrubbery, or other natural vegetation from land clearing projects (i.e., projects that clear the land surface so it can be developed, used for a different purpose, or left unused).
This restriction is in addition to the existing ban on outdoor burning in urban growth areas and no-burn zones.
For more information about this upcoming ban in Kitsap County, click to www.pscleanair.org/LandClearing .
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Permit Open for Comment
The following Puget Sound Clean Air Agency permit is now open for public comment:
Equilon Enterprises, LLC dba Shell Oil Products US, Permit No. 16003
Comment Period: June 23-July 22, 2009
Equilon Enterprises, LLC filed an application to amend the voluntary limit on emissions from their gasoline loading terminal on Harbor Island. For details about the permit or how to submit comments, click to www.pscleanair.org/announce/permits/openpermits.aspx .
To receive notice about permitting; proposed Orders of Approval, Regulatory Orders, Variances and Operating Permits; hearings on those actions; extensions of comment periods; and final actions; simply sign up or change your profile to receive e-mail notification at www.pscleanair.org/signup .
About the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency
The Puget Sound Clean Air Agency serves the people of King, Kitsap, Pierce and Snohomish counties. We work together to clean the air we breathe and protect our climate through education, incentives and enforcement. To learn more about our work, and how you can be a part of it, too, visit us at www.pscleanair.org .
About the Clean Air Newsline
Clean Air Newsline is a monthly electronic newsletter to provide air quality information to the residents of King, Kitsap, Pierce and Snohomish counties. Subscribers receive the latest on air quality news, trends and projects that affect our local communities and the air we breathe. Feel free to pass the information along to others.
We also use the Newsline as needed to send timely and important messages about burn bans, Smog Watches and early calls to action when air quality deteriorates.
If this newsletter was forwarded to you and you would like to subscribe, you can do so at www.pscleanair.org/signup . Be sure to select Clean Air Newsline to be added to the e-mailing list.
My partner, Michael, and I were walking our dogs on Saturday along the Cedar River Trail in Renton and came upon the new off leash dog area being installed by RUFF - or Renton Unleashed Furry Friends. It's a huge 5 acre area by the trail and just across the Cedar River from the Renton Community Center. There is a small dog area for little guys that don't want to be overrun by the big dogs and loads of space to run for the others.
I hope you'll get out and enjoy this new space with your furry friend and I hope you'll also help fund the efforts of RUFF! They do have their 501c3 status and will be looking to do more fundraising for long term care of the park and potentially more of these dog parks in the future. They've piggy backed on the success of long time COLA (Citizen's for Off Leash Areas) in Seattle, so we hope that they'll be able to become a strong organization in favor of our pooches.
This is likely to be a more specific post to the WA area, but it all depends on your local MLS and the forms used in your transactions. But, since this is both for agents and the public to check out, hopefully it will get people thinking no matter where they live and to do what is appropriate for their own locale.
In WA State we have statewide forms that are available to MLS members that are attorney drafted and approved fill-in-the-blank forms. These are copyrighted forms and not for public consumption or sale. The way agents are allowed to do what is a limited practice of law is by virtue of using only these forms.
One of these forms is called the 22K Identification of Utilities Addendum. This form often gets used to put general information about the utility companies that affect the property being sold, but if you really read the first paragraph of the document it says, "The names and addresses of all utilities providing service to the Property and having lien rights are as follows:"
So, what are lien rights? And who has them? Lien rights are much like the mortgage against your house. Basically, if someone files a lien against your property (such as taxes, deed of trust, mortgage, mechanics lien, etc), when you sell the property, then the lien must be paid off at the time of sale.
When it comes to utilities, the only companies that can file a lien against your property are those that are municipality based. For example: City of Seattle is the water company for most homes with Seattle addresses, they are a municipality based utility and can lien the property on unpaid bills - so if a seller forgets to pay their water bill and moves away without paying it, then the next homeowner will likely get stuck with that bill. I've met clients who in prior transactions, not with me and my team, had agents who didn't use the 22K form in a sale. They ended up stuck with seller's water bills, some as high as $500. It was definitely a surprise. Most other utility companies, such as Puget Sound Energy, go after the specific person(s) for unpaid bills and cannot lien properties because they are a for-profit business and not a government entity. The form 22K and the standard Purchase & Sale Agreement do have language stating that the Seller is still obligated to pay, but if someone skips town and doesn't pay, as the buyer you'll want to have some protection from municipality owned utilities to be paid off at closing.
These issues mostly apply to residential, multi-family, and townhome properties that are not part of Home Owner Associations where some portion of the HOA dues/assessments are used to pay some utility costs. For condominium sales you'll want to look to see what the HOA dues pay for because the Closing Agent (escrow) cannot close out a bill if it's paid for by the HOA and not the seller directly. That's why when I received an offer for one of my client's condo based townhomes yesterday, we removed the 22K from the offer because it wasn't necessary. We gave the utility company info for the ones the seller does pay, but there was no need for 22k in this situation as the HOA pays for water, sewer and garbage collection.
Even if someone has put the 22K form in your offer, don't assume that because the information was filled out, that the Closing Agent is paying those off. If it's non-municipality based, they can't. Always check.
One additional note, this is even more critical when dealing with foreclosure and short sale properties as there may be outstanding utility bills. If the seller couldn't make the mortgage, it's very likely they weren't paying utility bills either.
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Team Reba is a network of professionals specialized in all aspects of residential and commercial real estate transactions in the Greater Seattle Area. We know real estate, and we know numbers.
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