Bulletin: VT2017001

Dear Associates:

This legislative update briefly outlines some of the laws enacted by the Vermont Legislature impacting real property conveyances. The complete text of these and other acts can be found at www.leg.state.vt.us.

H.290 Act Relating to clarifying ambiguities relating to real estate conveyances.

This act clarifies ambiguities relating to real estate titles and conveyances as follows:

Sec. 1 amends 27 V.S.A. § 464a to allow for a Licensed Attorney to prove that a mortgage has been paid off by either check or wire transfers.

Sec. 2 amends 29 V.S.A. § 563 to clarify an ambiguity relating to the requirements for considering whether a lease to explore for oil and gas deposits is deemed abandoned.

Sec. 3 amends 27 V.S.A. § 341(c) to eliminate the need for a witness on a Memorandum of Lease.

Sec. 4 amends 27 V.S.A. § 1313 to provide that the failure to record a floor plan under the State’s previous statutory scheme for condominiums does not constitute a defect in marketable title if more than 15 years has passed since the declaration was recorded.

Sec. 5 adds 14 V.S.A. § 3184 to clarify an ambiguity in existing probate law to allow a guardian appointed by a probate court of a foreign jurisdiction to have the power and authority to convey an interest in Vermont real property by a person 18 years or older if he or she has obtained a valid foreign court order and registers that order with the Probate Division of a Vermont Superior Court.

Sec. 6 amends 14 V.S.A. § 3502(e) to exempt real estate specific powers of attorney from the requirement that the agent must accept appointment as a fiduciary.

Effective Date: May 4, 2017

S.136 An act relating to miscellaneous consumer protection provisions.

Sec. 2 amends 8 V.S.A § 10404 to reduce the sum borrowers are required to maintain in their escrow accounts and to require lenders to complete an annual escrow account computation consistent with the federal Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act and provide notice of said computations within thirty (30) days of receiving an adjusted tax bill. 

S.13 An act relating to fees and costs allowed at a tax sale.

Sec. 1 amends 32 VSA § 5258 to allow Municipalities to recover fees incurred in order to secure a property (for which delinquent taxes are owed) against illegal activity and fire hazards, so long as those fees do not exceed twenty percent (20%) of the uncollected tax.

H. 111 An act relating to Vital records.

18 V.S.A. §4999 is added to create a State Registrar of Vital Records (State Registrar) and to operate a Statewide Vital Records Registration System. All birth and death certificates issued after July 1, 2018, will be processed by the State Registrar. All previously recorded birth and death certificates will be maintained by the appropriate municipality.

Municipalities will continue to issue marriage licenses and record marriage certificates.

Certified copies of birth and death certificates will be limited to specific persons, however, 18 V.S.A. § 5016 (c)(2) provides for a noncertified copy of a birth or death certificate to be recorded in the lands records of an appropriate municipality to establish the date of birth or death of a person with an ownership interest in real property.

There are multiple effective dates, beginning on May 22, 2017.

H.35 An act relating to adopting the Uniform Voidable Transactions Act.

This act reclassifies Fraudulent Conveyances as Voidable Transactions and adopts the most recent revisions from the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws concerning voidable transactions.

9 V.S.A. Chapter 57 is amended to reflect changes as to burdens of proof, protections for transferee’s, governing law, and other matters.  

If you have any questions relating to this or other bulletins, please contact a Stewart Title Guaranty Company underwriter.

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