TAR Working Hard To Amend Septic Law

The Tennessee Association of Realtors is working hard to amend septic law.

       As most REALTORS know, in 2006 legislation was passed that made it a criminal activity under the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act, in advertising a property, to misrepresent the number of bedrooms for which a home's septic system has been permitted by the local health department. The legislative intent in 2006 was to place this requirement on NEW construction only. SB 1205 restores this legislative intent.

       Thus far there has been near universal support for the legislation. The one group that expressed concern with the altered law was the Department of Environment and Conservation who briefly wanted the law to continue to say that it should be a crime if the real estate licensee markets a new home (i.e. new construction) for the wrong number of bedrooms based on the information provided by the builder/owner. The Department of E&C retracted their concern after
further conversations that highlighted the fact that making a real estate agent criminally liable for an owner who misrepresents the truth about the property was unfair to the licensee.

       While this legislation will hopefully pass the General Assembly this year (and things look good at this point), it will STILL be the practice of the TAR Legal Hotline to encourage REALTORS to pull the septic permit (where available) from their local health department or environmental office should they have concerns or problems with the number of bedrooms for which a home is being marketed or advertised. As was the case before this legislation was
even enacted last year, licensees could STILL face civil liability for marketing a property for the wrong number of bedrooms.

     This impacts the entire state of Tennessee, however; Fayette County and other more rural counties will feel a much larger impact than Shelby County.

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