Connecticut § 20-325c - Real estate licensee acting as mortgage broker.

§ 20-325c. Real estate licensee acting as mortgage broker.

Sec. 20-325c. Real estate licensee acting as mortgage broker. (a) Notwithstanding any provision of the general statutes, no real estate licensee, and no person affiliated with such real estate licensee, who receives a fee, commission or other valuable consideration for the sale of residential real property, may receive a fee, commission or other valuable consideration for negotiating, soliciting, arranging, placing or finding a first mortgage loan for the buyer in connection with the same sale unless disclosure is made in accordance with the provisions of subsection (b) of this section. Any fee, commission or other valuable consideration received by such real estate licensee for negotiating, soliciting, arranging, placing or finding a first mortgage loan shall (1) be related to the services actually performed, as determined by the Banking Commissioner by regulations adopted pursuant to chapter 54, (2) not be imposed for the referral of the buyer to the mortgage lender by such real estate licensee, and (3) be paid directly to such real estate licensee by the buyer rather than from the mortgage loan proceeds at the time of closing.

(b) Any disclosure made pursuant to subsection (a) of this section shall be made to and acknowledged by the buyer prior to the time the buyer signs a contract with the real estate licensee for mortgage brokering services. Such disclosure shall include the following notice printed in at least ten-point boldface capital letters:

I UNDERSTAND THAT THE REAL ESTATE BROKER OR SALESPERSON IN THIS TRANSACTION HAS OFFERED TO ASSIST ME IN FINDING A MORTGAGE LOAN. ADDITIONALLY, I UNDERSTAND THAT THIS REAL ESTATE BROKER OR SALESPERSON DOES NOT REPRESENT ANY PARTICULAR MORTGAGE LENDER AND WILL ATTEMPT TO OBTAIN THE BEST TERMS AVAILABLE WITHIN THE MORTGAGE LOAN MARKET FOR MY SPECIFIC HOME FINANCING NEEDS. IF THE REAL ESTATE BROKER OR SALESPERSON DOES NOT FULFILL HIS FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION I MAY FILE A COMPLAINT WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF BANKING. I ALSO UNDERSTAND THAT I MAY ATTEMPT TO FIND A MORTGAGE LOAN TO FINANCE THE PURCHASE OF MY HOME WITHOUT THE ASSISTANCE OF THE REAL ESTATE BROKER OR SALESPERSON IN WHICH CASE I WILL NOT BE OBLIGATED TO PAY A FEE TO THE REAL ESTATE BROKER OR SALESPERSON.

(c) No mortgage lender may refuse to close a mortgage loan secured by residential real property because the buyer has not paid a fee, commission or other valuable consideration to a real estate licensee for negotiating, soliciting, arranging, placing or finding the first mortgage loan.

(P.A. 89-347, S. 1; P.A. 94-240, S. 5, 14; P.A. 98-10, S. 34; P.A. 03-84, S. 16; P.A. 23-84, S. 28.)

History: P.A. 94-240 made certain changes to the text to make it more gender neutral, effective July 1, 1994; P.A. 98-10 made technical changes in Subsec. (b); P.A. 03-84 changed “Commissioner of Banking” to “Banking Commissioner” in Subsec. (b), effective June 3, 2003; P.A. 23-84 deleted former Subsec. (a) defining “residential real property”, redesignated existing Subsecs. (b) to (d) as Subsecs. (a) to (c) and amended same by substituting references to real estate licensee for references to real estate broker and real estate salesperson, and made technical and conforming changes throughout, effective April 1, 2024.