Dear Forms Committee: I currently have an active listing – we have not yet received an offer. The seller has received notice of a pending assessment to be levied by their neighborhood HOA. Accordingly, the seller has disclosed this fact under question 7D of OREF 020 – Seller’s Property Disclosure Statement. Is there anywhere else this assessment should be disclosed when we do receive an offer?

Yes. In the Seller Representation section of the Residential Real Estate Sale Agreements, item (d) makes the representation that the seller has no notice of any liens or assessments to be levied against the property. In this situation, that representation would be false. To correct that representation, when you receive an offer the seller would need to prepare a counteroffer or addendum to notify the buyer that there is a pending assessment and refer to the disclosure made in OREF 020 – Seller’s Property Disclosure Statement. Additionally, the seller should confirm that the HOA documents that are provided to the buyer under the OREF 024 – Homeowners Association/Townhome/Planned Community Addendum include disclosure of the assessment, as required under Section 1(f) of that Addendum.

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