Bulletin: IN2007003

Dear Associates:

New Indiana legislation (Senate Enrolled Act No. 232) provides that after June 30, 2007, any deed of conveyance must also include a street address or rural route address of the grantee after the mailing address if the mailing address on the conveyance is not a street address or a rural route address of the grantee. A post office box number will not be acceptable. Currently, many deed formats contain language stating the property is commonly known as “1234 Main Street” and also include statements requesting the deed to be returned to or tax statements mailed to a certain address. There is no separate statutory requirement, other than that contained in the new legislation, which requires a mailing address for the grantee. If property is owner-occupied, the address will be the same as the property address. If not owner-occupied, a street or rural route address must be provided by the grantee. Failure to include this additional information required by statute may result in a delay in recording if the document is returned by the recorder or auditor for non-compliance. As a result, in order to ensure recording in a timely manner, deeds recorded after June 30, 2007 should contain a separate recital at the bottom of the document with the following or similar language:

Grantee’s street or rural route address: _____________________________________.

Senate Enrolled Act 287 authorizes revisions to the filing of the Sales Disclosure Form, State Form 46021. After June 30, 2007, the sales disclosure form must be first be submitted to the County Assessorfor verification that the form has been correctly filled out. The new law requires immediate review of the form by the assessor for accuracy and completeness. If the form is determined to be acceptable, the county assessor will stamp the form as eligible for filing with the County Auditor and the form will be returned to the submitting party for filing with the County Auditor. A sales disclosure form will be considered accurate and complete if the assessor finds that there is no substantial evidence that the information contained in the form is inaccurate, the form substantially conforms to the form prescribed by the department of local government finance and the formis submitted in a suitable format. County assessing officials are prohibited under the new law from establishing procedures or requirements concerning sales disclosure forms that substantially differ from the statutory procedures and requirements. We are aware that some counties in Indiana have already been requiring the sales disclosure form to be filed first with the county assessor. Please contact our office if you have any questions or you have additional information concerning this new requirement in the counties you conduct business in.

As always, the implementation of any new statutory requirements is subject to interpretation. We will keep you updated with any additional information we obtain concerning these new requirements.