Duties and Responsibilities of the Selling Agent Regarding the Hawaii Seller’s Real Property Disclosure Statement for Hawaii Residential Real Estate

In our “Mandatory Seller Disclosure Statement for Hawaii Residential Real Estate” article, we focus on the responsibilities of the seller in providing a Hawaii Seller real property disclosure statement for the Hawaii residential real property to the buyer. This article focuses on the selling realtor’s specific duties and responsibilities for disclosure with respect to the sale of Hawaii residential real property.

Under Hawaii Revised Statutes Section 508D-7 when a seller’s agent cannot obtain the Hawaii seller’s real property disclosure statement and does not have written assurances from the buyer that the Hawaii seller’s real property disclosure statement was received, the seller’s agent must notify the buyer in writing of the buyer’s rights to the Hawaii seller’s real property disclosure statement and the rights of rescission.

However, the seller’s agent is not required to prepare the Hawaii seller’s real property disclosure statement. The seller’s agent responsible for delivering the Hawaii seller’s real property disclosure statement, or the aforesaid written notification of the buyer’s rights if applicable, shall maintain a record of the action taken by that agent to effect compliance.

The most worrisome duty though is if the seller’s agent is or becomes aware of any material facts inconsistent with or contradictory to the Hawaii seller’s real property disclosure statement or the inspection report of a third party provided by the seller. If that occurs the seller’s agent must disclose these facts to the seller, buyer, and the buyer’s agent. Doing so puts the seller’s agent in a bind as he or she must disclose facts that may hurt the seller.

As you can see, there are a number of issues that Hawaii realtors need to be concerned about during the sale of Hawaii residential real property.

Contact us now and we can help you review the proposed Hawaii purchase contract and/or the Hawaii seller’s real property disclosure statement.