HB5383 adds a new duty to §30-40-26 of the West Virginia Real Estate License Act requiring brokers, associate brokers, and salespersons to disclose water and sewer utility rates to the buyer at the point of sale and/or upon final acceptance or ratification of any contract. The requirement is inserted into the statutory list of duties that flow from a real estate license.
This matters because utility charges are an ongoing ownership cost buyers often discover only after closing. The bill shifts the onus for communicating those costs onto licensees, which will change closing checklists, listing practices, and the information agents must gather from utilities or sellers.
The statute is silent on enforcement mechanics and on how to calculate or source variable, consumption-based charges — creating practical and compliance questions for licensees and regulators.
At a Glance
What It Does
The bill amends §30-40-26 (Duties of licensees) by adding a specific obligation that licensees must disclose water and sewer utility rates to the buyer at the point of sale and/or when a contract is finally accepted or ratified. The new requirement appears as an additional subsection in the existing duties list.
Who It Affects
All licensed brokers, associate brokers, and salespersons operating in West Virginia are directly subject to the new duty. Buyers of residential real estate will be the intended recipients; municipal and private utilities, listing services (MLS), and real estate brokerages will be indirectly affected as sources and conduits of rate information.
Why It Matters
By making utility-rate disclosure a statutory duty of licensees, the bill elevates routine cost transparency into a licensing compliance issue. That change creates operational obligations for agents and potential professional-liability exposure if rates are inaccurate or incomplete.
More articles like this one.
A weekly email with all the latest developments on this topic.
What This Bill Actually Does
HB5383 tucks a new obligation into the existing roster of duties that West Virginia real estate licensees owe to consumers. It requires agents to provide buyers with "water and sewer utility rates" at two trigger points: "the point of sale" and/or when a purchase contract is finally accepted or ratified.
The language applies directly to brokers, associate brokers, and salespersons; it does not create a new separate statutory office or agency to manage disclosure.
The statute is concise about who must disclose and when, but it does not define "rates" or specify how to calculate or source them. Water and sewer charges commonly include fixed monthly base charges, meter-size fees, volume/consumption tiers, seasonal surcharges, and sometimes stormwater fees; the bill does not say which of those elements belong in the disclosure.
It also does not identify whether the agent must verify current utility tariffs, rely on seller-provided statements, or obtain written confirmation from the utility provider.Because the bill modifies the duties accompanying a real estate license, enforcement would fall into the same regulatory framework that governs other licensing obligations — licensing discipline, fines, or administrative action administered by the Real Estate Commission — although the text does not add new penalties or a private right of action. Practically, brokerages will need to update their checklists and training, listing services and forms may require revision, and agents must decide operationally how to gather and present rate information without introducing errors that could trigger complaints.The geographic and institutional landscape in West Virginia matters: many municipalities and water districts set rates locally, some properties are served by investor-owned or private utilities, and some rural properties have private wells or septic systems where municipal water/sewer rates are not applicable.
Those differences will affect how often the disclosure is relevant and how burdensome it is for licensees to comply.
The Five Things You Need to Know
The bill amends §30-40-26 of the West Virginia Code by adding a new subsection that imposes a duty to disclose water and sewer utility rates to buyers.
The disclosure must occur "at the point of sale and/or upon final acceptance or ratification of any contract," creating two potential trigger moments for delivery of the information.
The duty targets brokers, associate brokers, and salespersons — the statutory language does not assign the obligation to sellers, utilities, or third parties.
The statute is silent on how to calculate or source "rates" (for example, fixed charges, usage tiers, or combined fees) and does not require verification from utility providers.
HB5383 does not create a new enforcement mechanism or private right of action in the text; compliance and any discipline would be managed under existing licensing authorities unless regulators or future legislation add specifics.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
Every bill we cover gets an analysis of its key sections.
Placement of the new duty within existing licensee obligations
The bill inserts the new disclosure obligation into the long list of duties that licensees already owe. That placement matters because it treats utility-rate disclosure as a professional obligation tied to licensure rather than as a separate consumer-protection statute. Practically, this means failure to disclose could be reviewed under the commission's disciplinary rules for licensee conduct rather than through a specialized consumer statute.
Mandatory disclosure of water and sewer utility rates to buyers
The operative sentence requires licensees to "specifically disclose water and sewer utility rates to the buyer" at the point of sale or upon final acceptance/ratification of a contract. The provision is narrowly worded: it specifies the recipients (buyers) and timing but leaves out definitions of "rates," whether the disclosure must be written or oral, and who supplies the data. Those omitted details will determine how licensees comply in practice.
Interaction with existing disclosure forms and agency duties
The duties section already requires written agency disclosure and delivery of contract copies; the new clause sits alongside those requirements. Commission-promulgated forms (e.g., notice of agency relationship, purchase agreements) may need updates so agents can record the rate information. Brokerages will likely alter internal checklists to capture utility-rate collection and retention, and MLS or listing platforms may change field requirements to avoid inconsistent practices among agents.
What the amendment does not say — enforcement, definitions, and exceptions
The statute does not define enforcement measures, nor does it clarify applicability when municipal service is unavailable (private wells/septic) or where rates are dynamic. That silence leaves real questions about disciplinary standards, acceptable sources for rate data, timing disputes, and whether agents must correct disclosures if utility tariffs change between disclosure and closing.
This bill is one of many.
Codify tracks hundreds of bills on Housing across all five countries.
Explore Housing in Codify Search →Who Benefits and Who Bears the Cost
Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- Homebuyers — Buyers gain earlier visibility into recurring water and sewer costs, helping them assess total housing affordability and avoid post-closing surprises that affect monthly budgets.
- Consumer-advocacy groups — Organizations that push for transactional transparency can use the statutory duty as leverage to demand consistent, comparable rate disclosures across listings and jurisdictions.
- Lenders and underwriters — Mortgage originators and underwriters benefit from clearer cost inputs when assessing a borrower's debt-to-income position if rate disclosures are incorporated into underwriting worksheets.
- Local governments and utilities — Transparent rate disclosure can reduce billing disputes and complaints by aligning buyer expectations with actual utility charges, particularly in municipalities with complex tariff structures.
Who Bears the Cost
- Real estate brokers and individual licensees — Agents will bear the operational cost of collecting, interpreting, and delivering rate information, including staff time, training, and potential legal or disciplinary exposure if disclosures are inaccurate.
- Small utilities and municipal water districts — Utilities may face increased requests for written rate information or documentation from agents, requiring staff time to respond and potentially standardize customer-facing rate summaries.
- State Real Estate Commission and regulatory staff — The Commission will need to update forms, guidance, and enforcement protocols and may see a rise in complaints, creating administrative workload without additional funding specified in the bill.
- Sellers and listing clients — Sellers may be asked to provide rate history or documents to assist agents, adding to pre-closing document burdens even though the statutory duty is placed on licensees.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The bill balances two legitimate goals — giving buyers upfront visibility into an important recurring cost and keeping real estate transactions administrable for licensees — but it resolves neither cleanly: mandating disclosure increases transparency but imposes verification and operational burdens on agents, and without definitions or verification rules the disclosure risks either being superficial or exposing agents to disputes over accuracy.
The statute creates a clear duty but leaves multiple implementation questions unresolved. It does not define "water and sewer utility rates," so licensees must decide whether to disclose only fixed monthly charges, full tariff schedules, historical bills, average monthly costs, or a combination.
Consumption-based charges make per-unit rate disclosure less useful without contextual usage estimates; disclosure of a tariff without estimated consumption could mislead more than it informs. The lack of a written-verification requirement means agents may rely on seller statements or public tariff notices — both of which have accuracy limits.
The bill also leaves enforcement and remedies unspecified. Because the obligation is embedded in the licensing duties section, the primary enforcement tool is regulatory discipline under existing Real Estate Commission authority.
That pathway raises procedural questions: what constitutes a violation (omission, inaccuracy, or late disclosure), what standard of proof applies, and whether buyers can pursue private claims based on a licensee's failure to disclose. Finally, rural and mixed-service contexts complicate uniform application: private wells, septic systems, or properties served by multiple jurisdictions will require tailored compliance approaches, which could produce inconsistent buyer experiences across the state.
Try it yourself.
Ask a question in plain English, or pick a topic below. Results in seconds.