|
 TITLE
COMPANIES TRIM DOWN PROPERTY
PROFILES IN RESPONSE TO
DEPARTMENT OF INSURANCE LETTER
Effective immediately, title
companies may be eliminating
much of the information they
provide on property profiles.
The California Department of
Insurance recently issued a
letter
taking the position that title
companies may only give the
following information on
property profiles:
-
Names of owners of record of
a specified real property;
-
Description of real
property; and
-
Property characteristics as
defined under section 408.3
of the California Revenue
and Taxation Code, which
means year of construction
of improvements, square
footage, number of bedrooms
and bathrooms, number of
units, acreage, and other
attributes or amenities
(such as swimming pools,
views, zoning classification
or restrictions, and use
code designations).
The Department further indicated
its position was based on
existing law and unrelated to SB
133, the Title
Industry-sponsored bill that
greatly restricted promotional
activities to licensees and
became effective this year.
C.A.R. disagrees with this
position and is aggressively
working to persuade the
Department of Insurance to
reconsider in light of the
legislative intent language of
the older law on which the
decision is based.
Meanwhile, REALTORS® will likely
encounter a title company's
refusal to provide free of
charge any other information,
such as recorded documents,
sales comps, tax bills, or
demographics. This type of
information is still available
through other sources, such as
county recorder's offices, tax
assessor's offices, and
governmental and public record
websites and private services
for a fee. Clients may also
have their own copies of some of
the documents. In response,
C.A.R. is proactively seeking to
provide REALTORS® with a viable
solution to this situation, by
exploring legal and legislative
options, as well as the
possibility of providing new
member services or benefits to
lower the cost of obtaining the
information. |
