The seller proposes to provide the buyer with a five-year-old Real Property Report (RPR).
Should the buyer accept?
Is the buyer contractually obligated to accept?
The point of an RPR clause in a standard purchase contract is to provide the buyer with up-to-date and accurate survey information along with commentary from the municipality on adherence to bylaws.
Under clause 10.2, the standard contract is worded such that the seller is to provide "... an RPR showing the current improvements on the property...".
Among real estate lawyers, it is generally agreed that 'current' doesn't mean brand-new.
The key thing is that the RPR shows the property and all its improvements the way it is today.
Examining the RPR that the sellers propose to provide is really the buyer's job. If you have a chance, as a buyer's Realtor, you should put the RPR in front of the buyer and ask him the question. It is better to do it during the offer process and discover a potential problem than when the buyer is signing documents in my office.
Since many buyers and sellers are not familiar with RPR's, I strongly recommend that both seller's Realtors and buyer's Realtors closely examine the RPR and make your own determination of whether the property is the same today as it was five years ago. If nothing has changed, then the older RPR is acceptable.
The compliance side of clause 10.2 is another matter. More on that in my next email.
Cheers,
Barry
