Bill would tweak real estate rules on road project disclosures

Under House Bill 184, long-term plans that aren't yet funded wouldn't have to be disclosed. But once a project is "financially constrained," sellers would have to volunteer that information to a potential buyer.

Rep. Kelly Hastings, R-Gaston, said that threshold would be crossed when a project is submitted for scoring under the state Department of Transportation's Strategic Transportation Investments program, which is typically called STI.

Projects that are merely contemplated as part of the state's Comprehensive Transportation Plan – the CTP – may be decades away or never come to fruition at all, Hastings said. They shouldn't affect property values, he said.

"Long-term, wish-list projects should not become a taking where the private property owner does not receive compensation," Hastings said.

If a potential buyer asks about one of those long-term projects, though, sellers would have to disclose it, under the bill.

“The bill plainly states: A person cannot lie," Hastings said.

For decades, the DOT restricted development in areas where highways were planned, even if the roads wouldn't be built for years, to keep down land acquisition costs. That hindered people's ability to sell property in those corridors, prompting scores of lawsuits.

House Bill 184 moved through the House Judiciary 1 committee on a voice vote. There were no audible no votes, but there was some discussion of the bill's finer points and its ultimate impact.

The bill moves to another committee before it goes to the House floor for more debate.