Disclosure & Agency Law Resources

July 2018 Update to Disclosure Reports

Recent legislation modified the Real Estate Condition Report (RECR) and the Vacant Land Disclosure Report (VLDR). The new forms are required beginning July 1, 2018. Changes to each form include the following:

• The seller is posed a question rather than a statement. 
• The form includes check boxes rather than lines.
• The report has been redesigned by offering categories such as structural and mechanical; environmental; well, septic and storage tanks; taxes, special assessment, permits; and land use. Therefore, the seller won’t be shocked when the section called "environmental" asks about radon and radium.
• Provides examples to the seller of what types of defects might be included.
• Offers blank lines for the explanation of "yes" responses at the end of each section rather than blank lines for all explanations of "yes" responses only at the end of the form.
• Provides a statement reminding sellers that licensees are not permitted to answer sellers’ questions about whether an item is or is not a defect.
• Includes new disclosures. 

New Real Estate Condition Reports (RECR) and Vacant Land Disclosure Reports (VLDR) will need to be used in transactions effective July 1, 2018. The new versions of RECR and VLDR the must be used when condition reports are first furnished to buyers on or after July 1, 2018. For reports already given to buyers before July 1, there is no need to go back and amend the report or provide a new form.

• If the buyer has been provided the RECR or VLDR before July 1, 2018 — no further action need be taken.
• If the seller has completed the RECR or VLDR before July 1, 2018, and the buyer will not be provided the RECR/VLDR until July 1, 2018 or after, then the seller must complete a new RECR/VLDR.

Previously, the WRA created a two-page RECR and a three-page RECR. The three-page form included supplemental explanation information for the seller. The law now includes such explanations and, therefore, the WRA has created only one RECR.

For more information about the changes to the RECR and VLDR, see the June 2018 Wisconsin Real Estate Magazine online at www.wra.org/WREM/June2018. 

WRA products

• Report: Disclosures Regarding Water Quality Issues (January 2017) 
• Wisconsin Real Estate Law Manual
• Amendment to Real Estate Condition Report (WRA-MCR) 
• Seller's Real Estate Condition Report (WRA-SCR) 
• Seller's Refusal to Complete Condition Report (WRA-SRR) 
• Vacant Land Disclosure Report (WRA-VLD)

WRA legal resources

• Legal Updates — Disclosure
• Legal Updates — Agency Law
• Legal Hottips — Disclosure

Wisconsin Real Estate Magazine articles

• "Extreme Disclosure Report Makeover" (June 2018) 
• "10 Things to Know About the New Vacant Land Disclosure Report" (June 2018)
• "The Best of the Legal Hotline: Buyer Said, Seller Said" (June 2018) 
• "You Complete Me, Says the RECR to the Seller" (July 2017)
• "The Best of the Legal Hotline: Difficult Disclosure Discussions," (February 2015)  
• "The Best of the Legal Hotline: Condition Report Renovations," (August 2014) 
• "Real Estate Condition Report Disclosure Items: Reflections of the Last 10 Years," (January 2014) 
• "Unsure about Disclosure?" (February 2013)
• "To Disclose or to Not Disclose, Is that the Question?" (July 2012) 

Wisconsin disclosure statutes and rules

• Real Estate Practice (Chapter 452)
• Disclosures By Owners of Residential Real Estate (Chapter 709)
• Conduct and Ethical Practices for Real Estate Licensees (Chapter REEB 24)