HB163
Notarization, filing, & recordation of certain land records; duties of notary or settlement agent;.
Status:
In Senate
Latest Action:
Feb. 3, 2026
House: Read third time and passed House (98-Y 0-N 0-A)
Chief Patron:
Marcus Simon (D)
Session:
2026 Regular Session
Summary
As Passed House of Origin. Notarization, filing, and recordation of certain land records; duties of notary or settlement agent; acknowledgement and satisfactory evidence of identity; requirements for commission or recommission of notary; clerk of circuit court to establish property alert notification system.
Adds a requirement that, within the six months immediately preceding the submission of his application, a person applying for commission to be a notary public or electronic notary public, or an existing notary public or electronic notary public applying for recommission, complete a course of instruction developed by or approved ... (More) by the Secretary of the Commonwealth. The bill specifies that one hour of such course of instruction shall be on the topic of real estate fraud and financial exploitation of elderly persons and shall include training on current trends on such topics and on recognizing instances of such fraud or financial exploitation. The bill directs the Secretary of the Commonwealth to develop a curricula for such courses of instruction by January 1, 2027, and has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2027, for those provisions related to the requirement that applicants for commission and recommission complete and present proof of completion of such courses of instruction.The bill also requires any clerk of a circuit court that has established a network or system of electronic filing of land records also establish an electronic property alert notification system that allows individuals to enroll such individual's name or tax identification of real property in the system at no cost and that such system shall send notifications to such individual when any document containing the enrolled name or tax identification number is filed with the clerk's office. The provisions related to the establishment of the property alert notification system have a delayed effective date of July 1, 2027.
Finally, the bill requires notaries public to keep a record of all notarial acts occurring on or after July 1, 2026, and to include in such record the form of satisfactory evidence of identification used to verify the identity of the principal and credible witnesses. Similarly, the bill requires settlement agents responsible for recording deeds, deeds of trust, or other documents relating to land records to obtain satisfactory evidence of identity of a seller of real property prior to settlement.
(Less)
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Bill History
- 01/06/2026 - House: Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26104586D
- 01/06/2026 - House: Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice
- 01/19/2026 - House: Assigned HCJ sub: Civil
- 01/19/2026 - House: Placed on Courts of Justice Agenda
- 01/21/2026 - House: House subcommittee offered
- 01/21/2026 - House: Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (10-Y 0-N)
- 01/27/2026 - House: Placed on Courts of Justice Agenda
- 01/28/2026 - House: Committee substitute printed 26105742D-H1
- 01/28/2026 - House: Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (19-Y 0-N)
- 01/28/2026 - House: Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB163)
- 01/30/2026 - House: Read first time
- 02/02/2026 - House: Read second time
- 02/02/2026 - House: committee substitute agreed to
- 02/02/2026 - House: Engrossed by House - committee substitute
- 02/03/2026 - House: Read third time and passed House (98-Y 0-N 0-A)
