Invitation to the Real Estate Industry to Change RESPA

This is an invitation to the real estate industry to strengthen the Real Estate Settlement and Procedures Act (RESPA).   We challenge anyone to defend the current one year statute of limitations of RESPA as being reasonable.  We believe that a one year statute of limitations encourages dishonest industry participants to engage in illegal conduct with little prospect of being caught in time to be prosecuted.  A one year statute of limitations provides zero deterrent to dishonest industry participants.  We are appealing to industry participants to support change that will make the business of doing real estate better for both consumers and business.

It is time for everyone connected to the real estate industry to take a stand and stop the illegal kickbacks and other illegal activity defined in RESPA.  RESPA is a worthless statute without a meaningful statute of limitations.   

We will post the names of the trade associations that support this change on our website.  We hope to send out invitations directly to these trade associations the week of March 5th, 2012.   Some organizations are already indicating their support before the invitations have even been sent out (see below).

Trade associations that wish to announce their support of this change only need to send an e-mail to ChangeRESPA@caare.org.  The e-mail needs to come from an authorized representative of their trade association and state that they wish to see the RESPA statute of limitations increased to six years.  They may alter the term if they like.   However, the only issue we are addressing is the statute of limitations. 

We also encourage them to send e-mails to their membership encouraging them to sign the petition which can be found here: SIGN PETITION (CLICK HERE)    

The Following Trade Associations Support This Change 

The National Association of Independent Land Title Agents ()

The National Association of Independent Housing Professionals (NAIHP)