republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2022/hb-281.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Real property; duty to disclose ownership interest and lis pendens."
description: "Real property; title insurance and duty to disclose ownership interest and lis pendens. Provides that a real estate licensee has an affirmative duty, upon having substantive discussions about specific real property, to disclose in writing to the purchaser, seller, lessor, or lessee if he, any member of his family, his firm, any member of his firm, or any entity in which he has an ownership interest has or will have an ownership interest to the other parties to the transaction. The bill requires a settlement agent, in connection with any transaction involving the purchase or sale of an interest in residential real property, to obtain from the purchaser a statement in writing that he has been notified by the settlement agent that the purchaser may wish to obtain owner's title insurance coverage including affirmative mechanics' lien coverage, if available, and of the general nature of such insurance coverage in accordance with the standards of the American Land Title Association, and that the purchaser does or does not desire such coverage or desires coverage not consistent with the standards of the American Land Title Association. The bill requires such written notification to substantially comply with language provided in the bill. The bill requires that an owner of residential dwelling unit who has actual knowledge of a lis pendens filed against the dwelling unit to provide to a prospective purchaser a written disclosure of such fact to the purchaser on a form provided by the Real Estate Board on its website."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2022"
identifier: "HB 281"
citation: "Virginia HB 281 (2022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Carrie E. Coyner"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 30
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2022-01-11"
last_action: "2022-04-11"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/317e9afe-9137-4576-9c8e-0116f6b31121"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+sum+HB281"
source_hash: "c4d1c838244ceb95e708d5157baccd6f3224ae401f6b3d8b0cc4a3042c728f29"
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 HB 281 (2022) — Real property; duty to disclose ownership interest and lis pendens.

Real property; title insurance and duty to disclose ownership interest and lis pendens. Provides that a real estate licensee has an affirmative duty, upon having substantive discussions about specific real property, to disclose in writing to the purchaser, seller, lessor, or lessee if he, any member of his family, his firm, any member of his firm, or any entity in which he has an ownership interest has or will have an ownership interest to the other parties to the transaction. The bill requires a settlement agent, in connection with any transaction involving the purchase or sale of an interest in residential real property, to obtain from the purchaser a statement in writing that he has been notified by the settlement agent that the purchaser may wish to obtain owner's title insurance coverage including affirmative mechanics' lien coverage, if available, and of the general nature of such insurance coverage in accordance with the standards of the American Land Title Association, and that the purchaser does or does not desire such coverage or desires coverage not consistent with the standards of the American Land Title Association. The bill requires such written notification to substantially comply with language provided in the bill. The bill requires that an owner of residential dwelling unit who has actual knowledge of a lis pendens filed against the dwelling unit to provide to a prospective purchaser a written disclosure of such fact to the purchaser on a form provided by the Real Estate Board on its website.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0610** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+CHAP0610)
2. **Committee substitute printed 22105033D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+HB281H1)
3. **HB281ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+HB281ER)
4. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/12/22 22104086D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+HB281)

## Votes

- Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (8-Y 0-N) — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Referred from General Laws — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- Reported from General Laws and Technology (15-Y 0-N) — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Commerce and Energy with substitute (22-Y 0-N) — **22–0** (pass) · lower
- VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N) — **98–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Carrie E. Coyner — primary (person)
- Wren M. Williams — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2022-01-11** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/12/22 22104086D `introduction`
- **2022-01-11** Referred to Committee on General Laws `referral-committee`
- **2022-01-25** Referred from General Laws
- **2022-01-25** Referred to Committee on Commerce and Energy `referral-committee`
- **2022-01-27** Impact statement from DPB (HB281)
- **2022-01-28** Assigned sub: Subcommittee #1 `referral-committee`
- **2022-02-01** House subcommittee amendments and substitutes offered
- **2022-02-01** Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (8-Y 0-N)
- **2022-02-03** Reported from Commerce and Energy with substitute (22-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2022-02-03** Committee substitute printed 22105033D-H1 `substitution`
- **2022-02-07** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2022-02-08** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2022-02-08** Committee substitute agreed to 22105033D-H1
- **2022-02-08** Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB281H1
- **2022-02-08** Impact statement from DPB (HB281H1)
- **2022-02-09** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2022-02-09** VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N)
- **2022-02-10** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2022-02-10** Referred to Committee on General Laws and Technology `referral-committee`
- **2022-02-23** Reported from General Laws and Technology (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2022-02-25** Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N)
- **2022-02-28** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2022-02-28** Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2022-03-02** Enrolled
- **2022-03-02** Signed by Speaker
- **2022-03-03** Impact statement from DPB (HB281ER)
- **2022-03-03** Signed by President
- **2022-03-11** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 11, 2022
- **2022-03-11** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 11, 2022
- **2022-04-11** Approved by Governor-Chapter 610 (effective 7/1/22) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/317e9afe-9137-4576-9c8e-0116f6b31121`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).