education
aSk nvaR
By Sarah Louppe Petcher, NVAR General Counsel; Laura M. Farley, Law Clerk
DISCLOSURE DILEMMAS:
who, what, when, where, why & how? VREB Violations? Voluntary Compliance May Mitigate Penalties Background: During a self-conducted audit, you discover that after receiving and depositing an Escrow Money Deposit in a timely manner, the check has bounced. your ordinary practice is to check the company’s bank account once a month, so you don’t discover that the check bounced until almost 30 days after you deposited it. Knowing that this is a violation of the duty to deposit funds within five business days, what you do next can determine whether or not you face penalties.
of discovering the violation. When you contact VREB, you should also include a written plan explaining how you will remedy the problem to bring your firm into compliance within the next 90 days. Once you have implemented your plan, and you have brought your firm into compliance, you will need to again contact VREB to certify that you have taken the steps laid out in the voluntary compliance plan. If an outside firm conducted the audit and discovered the problems, you will need to have the firm certify that you have implemented the plan.
What should I do if I discover that my firm, or a member of my firm, has violated the law?
Will submitting a voluntary compliance plan to VREB shield me from penalties?
If you conduct a self-audit, or hire an outside firm to conduct an audit for you, and you discover a violation, you may be able to avoid penalties if you notify VREB within 30 days
There are two instances in which a voluntary compliance program will not protect you: if the original violation was intentional or the result of gross negligence. If the violation
NOW AVAILABLE
NVAR Members Only
Coupon redeemable toward any purchase made at the NVAR Realtor® Store.
$18.95 2010 White House Ornament
Non-transferable. No cash value. Cannot be combined with any other vouchers or coupons, or used on sale items. Cannot be used on Sentrilock items.
Expires: 11/15/2010
Visit our convenient locations: NVAR Fairfax Headquarters 8407 Pennell Street Fairfax, VA 22031
34
Herndon Service Center 520 Huntmar Park Drive Herndon, VA 20170 September /OctOber 2010
www.nvar.com
Store: 703.207.3215 NVAr reAltOr® UPDATE