---
type: "Bill"
title: "Real Estate Board; licensees may assist in translation of real estate documents."
description: "Provides that if a party to a real estate transaction requests translation of a contract or other real estate document from the English language to another language, a real estate licensee may assist such party in obtaining a translator or may refer such party to an electronic translation service and that, in doing so, the licensee shall not be deemed to have breached any of his obligations as a real estate licensee or otherwise become liable for any inaccuracies in the translation. The bill provides that a licensee shall not charge a fee for such assistance or referral. This bill is identical to"
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2018"
identifier: "SB 528"
citation: "Virginia SB 528 (2018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["T. Montgomery \"Monty\" Mason"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 19
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2018-01-09"
last_action: "2018-03-02"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/d0f1e2f5-7d8d-4365-89e2-17cada04709d"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+sum+SB528"
source_hash: "1c64ffc707c873b97182d0b4ba0f789e14854ffb6a0a9da0078719e572de29eb"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-va"]
---

# Virginia SB 528 (2018) — Real Estate Board; licensees may assist in translation of real estate documents.

Provides that if a party to a real estate transaction requests translation of a contract or other real estate document from the English language to another language, a real estate licensee may assist such party in obtaining a translator or may refer such party to an electronic translation service and that, in doing so, the licensee shall not be deemed to have breached any of his obligations as a real estate licensee or otherwise become liable for any inaccuracies in the translation. The bill provides that a licensee shall not charge a fee for such assistance or referral. This bill is identical to

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Senate: Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB528ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+ful+SB528ER)
2. **Senate: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/18 18104552D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+ful+SB528)
3. **Senate: Printed as engrossed 18104552D-E** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+ful+SB528E)

## Votes

- Reported from General Laws — **22–0** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from General Laws and Technology with amendment — **15–0** (pass) · legislature
- Read third time and passed Senate — **39–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed House BLOCK VOTE — **100–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- T. Montgomery "Monty" Mason — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2018-01-09** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/18 18104552D `introduction`
- **2018-01-09** Referred to Committee on General Laws and Technology `referral-committee`
- **2018-01-25** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2018-01-25** Reading of amendment waived
- **2018-01-25** Committee amendment agreed to
- **2018-01-25** Engrossed by Senate as amended SB528E
- **2018-01-25** Printed as engrossed 18104552D-E
- **2018-01-31** Placed on Calendar
- **2018-01-31** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2018-01-31** Referred to Committee on General Laws `referral-committee`
- **2018-02-19** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2018-02-20** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2018-02-20** Passed House BLOCK VOTE (100-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2018-02-22** Enrolled
- **2018-02-22** Signed by Speaker
- **2018-02-23** Signed by President
- **2018-02-26** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on February 26, 2018
- **2018-02-26** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 5, 2018
- **2018-03-02** Approved by Governor-Chapter 87 (effective 7/1/18) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/d0f1e2f5-7d8d-4365-89e2-17cada04709d`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).