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History
- Referred to judiciary
- Referred to judiciary
Companion bill
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Prohibits real estate brokers from providing legal advice or preparing legal documents in real estate matters unless such person is a New York state licensed attorney
In Senate Committee · Judiciary · Sponsor Suzi Oppenheimer
Full text
The text isn't available here yet. Check nysenate.gov.
Sponsor's memo
BILL NUMBER:A9161
Title of bill
An act to amend the real property law, in relation to prohibiting real estate brokers from providing legal advice or preparing legal documents in real estate matters unless such person is a New York state licensed attorney
Purpose or general idea of bill
This bill protects the purchasers and sellers of real property from entering into real estate contracts that may or may not be binding due to lack of legal training and experience.
Summary of specific provisions
Since the purchase of a home is most likely to be the most important legal transaction that the average person undertakes, it should be done in such a manner that protects all parties' best interests. Its intent is not to diminish nor take away from the need to use a licensed realtor for the purpose of locating and acquiring real estate. This bill however will deem it illegal for any licensed Real Estate Broker, Associate Broker, or Agent to give legal advice or prepare legal documents such as binders or contacts of sale for the purchase of real property. Those that violate this law will be subject to penalties subscribed. The first offence would constitute a warning. The second offence would constitute a $1,000.00 fine. Each subsequent fine after the second offense would constitute a fine of $5,000.00 for each offense. This bill assures that when working with a real estate broker, associate broker, agent and or any other person that is duly licensed to sell real estate in New York State, a purchaser or seller's legal rights are protected when writing a contract of sale for the purpose of purchasing real estate. This bill would guarantee all contracts for the sale of real property are written, reviewed and approved by an attorney licensed to practice law in New York State prior to any contract of sale for real property becoming binding in any manner. The attorney being employed will be responsible to make any appropriate change in a timely manner as to not impede the sale of real property with concurrence of the seller or purchaser.
Justification
Even with current fill-in-the-blank contracts, the broker must be careful not to give legal advice. Reported cases reveal that one area where brokers have run afoul of this warning is in mort- gage contingency clauses, since a surprising number of buyers will not understand the difficulty of obtaining a mortgage, or that they may suffer the loss of a contract deposit if they fail to get one.
Prior legislative history
New legislation
Fiscal implications
None
Effective date
This act shall take effect immediately
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.