URPERA URMSA Update

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URPERA / URMSA Update

• Bettie Johnson
• David E. Ewan
• Co-Chairs, PRIA Real Property Legal Issues
  Committee
• Hilton Washington
• March 2, 2006

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The Uniform Real Property Electronic Recording Act

• Because of confusion around UETA and ESIGN,
  NCCUSL established the drafting committee for
  URPERA in 2002.
• The URPERA was drafted to remove any doubt about
  the authority of the recorder to receive and
  record documents and information in electronic
  form.

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The Uniform Real Property Electronic Recording Act

• URPERAs fundamental principle is that
  requirements of state laws describing or
  requiring that documents be original, on paper,
  or in writing are satisfied by documents in
  electronic form.
• Requirements that documents contain signatures or
  acknowledgments are satisfied by electronic
  signatures or electronic acknowledgements.

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The Uniform Real Property Electronic Recording Act

• URPERA is an overlay law to existing state
  recording statutes, so that each statute
  authorizing or directing recording does not have
  to be altered.
• URPERA also establishes a state commission or
  committee to develop and maintain e-recording
  standards based on national standards (PRIA).

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URPERA

• Final Version (November 2004)
• Section 1. Short Title
• Section 2. Definitions
• Section 3. Validity of Electronic Documents
• Section 4. Recording of Documents
• Section 5. Uniform Standards
• Section 6. Uniformity of Application and
  Construction
• Section 7. Relation to Electronic Signatures in
  Global and National Commerce Act (ESIGN)
• Section 8. Effective Date

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URPERA

• The URPERA is permissive, not mandatory
• The URPERA specifically authorizes (but does NOT
  require) a recorder, at the recorders option, to
  accept electronic documents for recording and to
  index and store those documents.

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URPERA

• To assist both public and private sectors in
  implementing the URPERA, PRIA has developed the
  URPERA Implementation Guide (iGuide)

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To Establish PRIA Leadership in
Why an URPERA Guide
URPERA Enactment and Standards Implementation
Guide

• Legal Uniformity UETA, ESIGN and State Adoption
  of URPERA
• Standards Uniformity
• 3600 recording jurisdictions
• Industry trading partners MISMO standards
• Education state and local officials, private
  sector partners, and other interested parties
• Guide for state legislators to enact the URPERA
• Guide for state commissions to adopt state and
  local standards based on the PRIA national
  standards

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URPERA Adoption Issues

• Legislative
• Adopt a clean URPERA
• Statewide Standards Body 5(a) Options
• New Commission (Alternative A)
• Existing Agency (Alternative B)
• Membership on Standards Setting Body
• Funding
• State Rulemaking Authority vs Standards Setting
• Sunsetting vs Ongoing Authority

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URPERA Adoption Issues

• Statewide eRecording Standards Commissions
• Continuing Existence
• State Commission Membership
• Staffing Expertise
• Public Input

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URPERAEnacted in 5 Jurisdictions

• Arizona 11-487
• Delaware Title 25 180
• District of Columbia Title 42 1231
• North Carolina 47-16.1
• Texas Property Code Chapter 15.001

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URPERAIntroduced in 7 Jurisdictions

• California AB 504 (Died)
• Kansas SB 336
• Kentucky SB 85 (Passed to House)
• Massachusetts HB 3748
• Missouri HB 1324 SB 924
• New Mexico SB 28
• Virginia SB 448 (Passed to House)

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And Now
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The Uniform Residential Mortgage Satisfaction Act

• Replacement type of Act intended to alter
  existing state laws
• All 50 states have legislation that requires a
  mortgagee to act promptly to provide
  title-clearing documentation following repayment
  of the mortgage debt.
• Existing state statutes typically allow the
  mortgagee a grace period for recording a
  satisfaction.
• Unfortunately, existing state laws vary widely
  from state to state.

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The Uniform Residential Mortgage Satisfaction Act

• The URMSA is designed to promote uniformity among
  the states by addressing three areas of
  (currently) disparate treatment
• Penalties for non compliance with satisfaction
  requirements
• Payoff statements
• Self help provisions

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URMSAEnacted In 1 Jurisdiction

• North Carolina Title 45 36.4

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URMSAIntroduced in 4 Jurisdictions

• Alabama HB 494
• Missouri HB 1717
• Vermont HB 498
• Virginia SB 433 (Passed to House)

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The Score

• URPERA 12 Introductions 5 Enacted
• URMSA 5 Introductions 1 Enacted

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Why?
SEXY

• Anything electronic is
• Mortgages are boring
• URMSA met with some criticism

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Why?

• While admitting that uniformity would be helpful,
  critics see the URMSA as unwieldy.
• Because of some of the language in the URMSA,
  some see the act as out-dated, inefficient, slow
  and expensive to use.
• They point out that settlement agents would not
  want to use the process specified to release
  mortgages because of the time, expense, and
  complications involved.

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Why?

• Critics also point out that some states have
  already done the URMSA one better by allowing
  one touch satisfactions, and this feature
  should be part of any new uniform act.

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URPERA / URMSA Update

• Bettie Johnson
• David E. Ewan
• dewan_at_speakeasy.net