URGENT Notice to all LICENSEES, from Keller Williams Premier Compliance Department: Note that this early morning, the Houston Association of Realtors sent notice of their termination of HAR 400 form, Notice to a Purchaser of Real Property in a Water District. The Texas Legislature passed a new law on June 8, 2023 to be effective September 1, 2023.
To accommodate our sellers and comply with the new law, the process as of today will be to go to DistrictDirectory.org. Find your county and then the MUD district. The MUD District will have to have posted the Notice to Purchaser of Special Taxing or Assessment District. We have found this to be placed either on the landing page directly up top or at the very bottom. They will have the disclosure and signatory lines for both seller and buyer.
Click here to see an example of what they will typically look like. The law changed to require additional disclosure of how the taxes are being spent. (An itemization of the tax collected).
NOTE: AS OF THIS MORNING NOT ALL DISTRICTS ARE UPDATED, MANY ARE STILL IN THEIR PROCESS OF COMPLYING WITH THE NEW LAW. THE SELLER WILL HAVE TO CALL THEIR MUD AND INQUIRE AS TO WHERE THEIR NOTICE IS AND MAY HAVE TO PAY A $10.00 FEE.
FORT BEND COUNTY IS ABOUT 50% UPDATED AND HARRIS COUNTY IS ABOUT 75% COMPLETE. NOTE THIS IS STILL REQUIRED TO BE GIVEN TO PURCHASER PRIOR TO EXECUTING A CONTRACT. THAT PORTION OF THE LAW HAS NOT CHANGED.
Notice from HAR
Form HAR 400 is no longer applicable and has been discontinued.
Why? The Texas Legislature recently passed a series of laws changing the utility district or “MUD” notice of information process. The legal notice provisions used in form HAR 400 have been deleted by the recent legislation and are no longer the law.
All information or “notice” concerning a district’s rates, services, bonds, etc., must be contained and posted on the district’s website for access by the public. As before, if a seller’s property is situated in a district, then the seller must deliver to the buyer the statutory notice for the buyer’s signature prior to final execution of the earnest money contract. The notice can be obtained from the district’s website which the new law requires of the district.
So, on behalf of your seller client, the listing agent will be tasked with obtaining a completed notice directly from the district. Seller’s obligation to deliver notice to the buyer can be found in paragraph 6.E.(3) and (11) or (12) in the TREC form sale contracts. Failure to timely obtain buyer’s signature prior to execution of the final purchase contract will allow the buyer to terminate the contract unless the notice is signed at or before closing (if closed it is presumed the buyer waived its right to terminate).
Delivery of the notice is accomplished upon execution of the notice by the buyer. Additionally, the seller must sign the notice too. Finally, as stated previously, a completed notice should be available on the district’s website. Additionally, a district is required to file the notice with the county property records, and also have a copy available upon request to it and payment of a fee up to $10.00, i.e., two other ways to obtain the notice.
If you have any questions or need assistance, email mlsqa@har.com.
Thank you for your continued membership in the Houston Association of REALTORS®.
