An Act to amend and reenact § 55.1-703 of the Code of Virginia and to amend the Code of Virginia by adding sections numbered 55.1-1008.1 and 58.1-3234.1, relating to real property tax; special assessment for land use; notice requirements; civil penalty.
HB1358 revises Virginia’s residential property disclosure requirements and adds new notice and enforcement provisions tied to land-use tax assessments. The bill expands the standard “buyer beware” disclosure statement that sellers of residential real property must provide, requiring it to warn purchasers that the owner makes no representations about a range of property-related issues and that buyers should conduct due diligence before settlement. The required disclosures cover matters such as property condition, surveys and lot lines, zoning and setback limits, adjacent parcels, historic district restrictions, Chesapeake Bay resource protection areas, registered sex offenders, and dam break inundation zones.
In addition to updating disclosure language, the bill adds a new section related to special assessment for land use and a new civil penalty provision. It also amends the Code to support notice requirements associated with land-use tax treatment, indicating that localities and property owners may have additional obligations to inform affected parties about assessment status and related property conditions. The bill is framed as a real estate transparency measure, with the practical effect of shifting more responsibility to buyers to investigate local land-use, environmental, and regulatory constraints before closing.
The bill amends § 55.1-703 and adds §§ 55.1-1008.1 and 58.1-3234.1 to the Code of Virginia, expanding mandatory residential disclosure content and creating new statutory notice and penalty mechanisms connected to special assessment for land use. Its impact is to standardize and broaden seller disclosure obligations in residential transactions while reinforcing buyer due diligence on zoning, historic districts, environmental overlays, and other local restrictions. It also affects local governments and property owners by tying land-use assessment issues to notice requirements and civil enforcement.
The available record shows no committee transcript debate or recorded votes, so there is no documented opposition or support in the provided materials. Based on the enacted chapter text, the bill appears to have been treated as a technical but substantive consumer-information and land-use transparency measure. Its passage into law suggests the proposal was acceptable to the legislature and did not generate visible controversy in the available record.
No specific points of contention are documented in the provided committee or vote history. Potential areas where disagreement could arise include the scope of seller disclosure obligations, the burden placed on sellers and localities to provide or verify information, and the civil penalty tied to notice requirements for land-use special assessments. However, the supplied materials do not identify any member, committee, or stakeholder who formally raised those concerns.