44-1-16. Failure to disclose in real estate transaction that property was occupied by diseased person or was site of death; failure to disclose information required to be provided or maintained in accordance with Code Section 44-9-44.1.

Active

Current through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly.

(a)
1. (1)
  No cause of action shall arise against an owner of real property, a real estate broker, or any affiliated licensee of the broker for the failure to disclose in any real estate transaction the fact or suspicion that such property:#
  (A)
  Is or was occupied by a person who was infected with a virus or any other disease which has been determined by medical evidence as being highly unlikely to be transmitted through the occupancy of a dwelling place presently or previously occupied by such an infected person; or#
  (B)
  Was the site of a homicide or other felony or a suicide or a death by accidental or natural causes;#
  provided, however, an owner, real estate broker, or affiliated licensee of the broker shall, except as provided in paragraph (2) of this subsection, answer truthfully to the best of that person’s individual knowledge any question concerning the provisions of subparagraph (A) or (B) of this paragraph.
2. (2)
  An owner, real estate broker, or affiliated licensee of the broker shall not be required to answer any question if answering such question or providing such information is prohibited by or constitutes a violation of any federal or state law or rule or regulation, expressly including without limitation the federal Fair Housing Act as now or hereafter amended or the state’s fair housing law as set forth in Code Sections 8-3-200 through 8-3-223.#
(b)
No cause of action shall arise against an owner of real property, real estate broker, or affiliated licensee of the broker for the failure to disclose in any real estate transaction any information or fact which is provided or maintained or is required to be provided or maintained in accordance with Code Section 42-9-44.1. No cause of action shall arise against any real estate broker or affiliated licensee of the broker for revealing information in accordance with this Code section. Violations of this Code section shall not create liability under this Code section against any party absent a finding of fraud on the part of such party.#

The notes below are printed with the section but are not enacted law (O.C.G.A. § 1-1-1(c)). They are shown apart from the text.

History

Code 1981, § 44-1-16, enacted by Ga. L. 1989, p. 1633, § 1; Ga. L. 1998, p. 1050, § 1; Ga. L. 2001, p. 1155, § 1.

Editor's notes

Ga. L. 1983, p. 471, effective March 15, 1983, repealed former § 44-1-16 (based on Ga. L. 1971, p. 624, §§ 2, 3), which pertained to information required to appear on posters for outdoor use. Code Section 42-9-44.1, referred to in subsection (b), was repealed by Ga. L. 2006, p. 379, § 28, effective July 1, 2006.

Code Commission notes

Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 1998, at the end of paragraph (a)(2), ‘‘Code Section’’ was deleted preceding ‘‘8-3-223’’ and ‘‘Code Sections’’ was substituted for ‘‘Code Section’’ preceding ‘‘8-3-200’’.

Law reviews

For note on the 2001 amendment to O.C.G.A. § 44-1-16, see 18 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 260 (2001).

Read the official page (the state's PDF, opened at the page this text was read from).

Current through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly.

Text read from t44-ch1-7-(v31)-2010-pdf.pdf, Volume V31, 2010 edition, pages 30 to 31; merge action: carried; file SHA-256 490191d3dc54.