Jackson & Campbell P.C. Update
	February 27, 2007
	Dear Real Estate Professional: DC: Twin Towers, TOPA, Pre-July 2005 cases: The Court of Appeals has declined to hear the case en banc. The case is over and the strict, limited interpretation of TOPA remains intact for pre-July 2005 TOPA transactions. Jackson and Campbell, P.C. filed a brief in this matter on behalf of the DC Land Title Association. General: Parties conducting closings on sales of real property should be wary of disbursements of large portions loan proceeds to parties other than the seller. Such a payment is often the tell-tale sign of a scheme that could have unfortunate ramifications. One lender has now added this language to its standard closing instructions: "Seller Disbursements: Any disbursement in excess of $5,000 on the seller side of the HUD-1 (excluding lien-related items specified in the title commitment and standard closing costs) must be verbally approved by the Lender prior to disbursing the loan proceeds." Federal: Underscoring the need of a settlement agent to confirm it has good funds before going to record, Mortgage Lenders Network and First Financial Equities Inc, have had serious issues recently. Consider this scenario: without verification of good funds, settlement agent delivers the original of borrower's note to the Lender, and pays off the Seller's old loans. The funds never arrive, so there is no reimbursement for the payoffs laid out, and, just as bad, a promissory note has been delivered and some entity steps in (perhaps a Bankruptcy Trustee) and seeks to enforce the Note. DC: Housing Forms: Lauren J. Pair, Housing Regulations Officer, Condominium and Cooperative Conversion and Sales Branch, Housing Regulation Administration of the D.C. Department of Consumer & Regulatory Affairs has circulated these forms: Elderly Waiver Physician Certification Sample Election Request Voter Qualification Voter Qualification Form Instructions Absentee Ballot Federal: Missing a Release or an Assignment or Document from the Resolution Trust? Start here: www.fdic.gov/consumers/consumer/information/lien/index.html MD: Reminder of this excellent site for land records: www. mdlandrec.net DC: DC Recorder of Deeds website is now making available those documents which have been recorded, but are still in the "queue" of the verification process. The "through date" (currently December 19, 2006) is the date that the ROD is up to in its verification process. Those documents filed after the "through date" thereafter will have images and indexing information as the documents work their way through the verification process. The advantage here is that, before this change, there was no way of knowing if a document had been recorded until the verification process had run its full course. Care should be taken, however because unverified documents should be only considered as courtesy copies. Documents in the queue, until full verification, could be rejected or changed, and other documents in the queue might appear in the wrong order, or not at all (because, over-the-counter documents might not be scanned as fast as electronically-recorded documents). The only dispositive search (and the "effective date" of any search) will still be as of the "through date". General: Many negligence claims are arising out of "accommodation" deeds prepared by title agents (some of whom are not attorneys who should not be practicing law without a license, anyway). Where is the risk-reward analysis here? The income is minimal, but the risks are great. Recent claims have involved: elderly grantor who later claims she did not understand what her grandson was doing, unpredicted trigger of TOPA rights, legal descriptions not accurate, legal descriptions that contained more than what was intended as a gift, unintended tax consequences, and good title not passing to the grantee. Remember, if the title agent is not issuing title insurance, a negligence claim against the title agent is often the only available recourse for the aggrieved. VA: New proposed law in Virginia (Senate Bill 2922) would exempt from state recordation tax any deed conveying property from an LLC to a surviving or new LLC upon a merger. General: New ALTA/ACSM Survey Standards are available by clicking here. Maryland: Last week the Maryland House and Senate passed bills that will likely prohibit new ground rent arrangements (the Bills do not invalidate existing ground rents). DC: Click here for a spreadsheet showing status of various bills of interest to the real estate and title industries. Please feel free to circulate this newsletter to others in the industry, both within and outside your office. The contents of this Update are intended for general informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as legal advice or as a substitute for consultation with a qualified attorney. Moreover, the mailing hereof is not intended to create nor does it constitute an attorney-client relationship. Sincerely, Roy L. Kaufmann of the Real Property and Asset Management Group Jackson & Campbell P.C. email: rkaufmann@jackscamp.com voice: (202) 457-1600 web: http://www.JacksCamp.com

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