Adapted from the presentation at the 2017 National Radon Training Conference and with permission of the presenter, Corean Hamlin, Director of Education and Licensing, North Carolina Real Estate Commission
The mission of the North Carolina Real Estate Commission is to protect the public interest in real estate brokerage transactions, and radon is an issue of public interest in the state. Homes in all 100 counties in North Carolina have had test results revealing high levels of radon.
For more than a decade, a test result of 4.0 pCi/L or higher has been considered a material fact by the North Carolina Real Estate Commission. North Carolina is a caveat emptor state, so owners of property are not required to disclose information about their properties to prospective buyers. However, North Carolina real estate brokers are required to disclose material facts. Consequently, if a broker is aware that a property has received a radon test result of 4.0 pCi/L or higher, the broker must disclose the information to prospective buyers, whether or not the owner chooses to do so.
In 2016, the North Carolina Real Estate Commission decided to revisit the issue of radon, to determine whether disclosure requirements should change. Lee Cox, Phillip Gibson, and Catherine Rosfjord, of the NC Radon Program, provided a comprehensive presentation on radon to the Commissioners. After considering the information, the Commission determined that the disclosure level (4.0 pCi/L or higher) would remain a material fact but the mere presence of a mitigation system would no longer be considered a material fact.
All real estate brokers in North Carolina are required to take a four-hour continuing education course each year called the Update course. The content of the Update course is prescribed by the Commission and written by Commission Staff each year. The North Carolina Real Estate Commission, in collaboration with the North Carolina Radon Program, developed a one-hour training module about radon that is part of the current year’s Update course. Consequently, all brokers who wish to maintain active licenses will receive radon training this year. Currently, there are more than 88,000 brokers in the state.
Safe at Home: Preventing Lung Cancer by Reducing Radon in the Home, a brochure developed for the North Carolina Real Estate Commission by the North Carolina Radon Program and North Carolina Prevention and Control Branch, answers questions and provides guidance about radon in the home and in real estate transactions. https://www.ncrec.gov/pdfs/radon.pdf
For more information about radon education in real estate in North Carolina, contact:
corean@ncrec.gov
919-875-3700
and
Phillip.gibson@dhhs.nc.gov
828-712-0972
United States