New Law: On Tuesday May 7th, Governor Mark Dayton signed SF 887, the “Radon Awareness Act (RAA),” into law. The RAA, incorporated as the first article of the Minnesota Department of Health’s (MDH) omnibus policy bill, was carried in the House by Rep. Carolyn Laine, DFL-Columbia Heights and Sen. John Marty, DFL-Roseville.
The bill creates new seller disclosure requirements for radon. Radon testing before property transfer is not required by the bill.
The final language of the RAA was the result of negotiations between MNAR (Minnesota Association of REALTORS), the Minnesota State Bar Association, and the MDH. Although MNAR informed legislators and MDH that sellers aware of elevated radon levels must already disclose that information to buyers, it was clear that more specific radon disclosure requirements were going to receive serious consideration by the Legislature. Therefore, MNAR advocated that that any new radon disclosure requirements should be provided in a manner consistent with existing seller disclosure.The new radon disclosure requirements are effective for agreements to sell or transfer residential real property executed on or after January 1st, 2014.