Foreclosures and the RMS: Practice Tip

Advice from your Real Estate Practice Advisor, Kristian Tzenov

A reminder to industry professionals that the Residential Measurement Standard (RMS) applies to foreclosures.

You should be notifying the owner of the property (the financial institution) about the requirement to measure properties according to the RMS if they wish to advertise the property size. As with typical sales, professionals must not rely on measurements from a previous listing of that property, and they must not forego their responsibilities by referring to the property as “as is, where is.”

If the owner of a property instructs you to disregard the RMS, it does not remove the responsibility from the real estate professional. Contrary to popular belief, the inclusion of a Schedule A does not eliminate a professional’s responsibility to follow the RMS.

At RECA, we understand that many foreclosures are situations where accessing the property is not permitted or may be a challenge. The RMS accounts for situations like this. The RMS allows a professional to deviate from using the RMS in these situations provided that:

• the measurements represented do not imply they are in accordance with the RMS
• the measurements include an explanation as to why the property could not be measured
• any advertisements disclose the measurement methodology used