Legal Question in Business Law in Arizona

Re: renting

(Cal. Civ. � 2079.10a)

M. Data Base � Locations of Registered Sex Offenders

Written leases or rental agreements for residential real property and contracts (including real property sales contracts as defined in Civil Code Section 2985) for the sale of residential real property of 1 to 4 dwelling units must contain, in not less than eight-point type, a notice as specified in paragraph (1), (2), or (3):

(1) A contract entered into by the parties on or after July 1, 1999, and before September 1, 2005, shall contain the following notice:

Notice: The California Department of Justice, sheriff�s departments, police departments serving jurisdictions of 200,000 or more, and many other local law enforcement authorities maintain for public access a database of the locations of persons required to register pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 290.4 of the Penal Code. The database is updated on a quarterly basis and is a source of information about the presence of these individuals in any neighborhood. The Department of Justice also maintains a Sex Offender Identification Line through which inquiries about individuals may be made. This is a �900� telephone service. Callers must have specific information about individuals they are checking. Information regarding neighborhoods is not available through the �900� telephone service.

(2) A contract entered into by the parties on or after September 1, 2005, and before April 1, 2006, shall contain either the notice specified in paragraph (1) or the notice specified in paragraph (3).

(3) A contract entered into by the parties on or after April 1, 2006, shall contain the following notice:

Notice: Pursuant to Section 290.46 of the Penal Code, information about specified registered sex offenders is made available to the public via an Internet Web site maintained by the Department of Justice at www.meganslaw.ca.gov. Depending on an offender�s criminal history, this information will include either the address at which the offender resides or the community of residence and ZIP Code in which he or she resides.

Re: renting

"Under civil code 1102 and/or 2079 [in California] a seller has a duty to disclose any facts that might materially affect the value or desirability of the property and to disclose those facts to any prospective purchaser. So clearly, if you have a registered sex offender living across the street and you have actual knowledge of that then that should be disclosed,"

Many purchase contracts now include disclosure information about how to look up information on registered sex offenders. Requirements may vary from state-to-state, but many times a real estate agent or seller must simply inform the prospective buyer about where to look up information in the registered sex offender database for that area.

"But there's no duty on anybody's part to investigate and find out if there is a registered sex offender living nearby,"

"The law says that by informing the prospective purchaser how to access the database, that that is sufficient compliance with the disclosure law regarding information about Megan's Law,"

If a seller or agent had actual knowledge about a registered sex offender living nearby and both fail to disclose it, Spilger said there are two options for recourse: the purchaser can seek an action to have the contract rescinded or if the purchaser decides to stay in the home the purchaser can sue for loss of value.