Recommend buyers check PA Megan’s Law registry

That new listing your client likes is right next to a community playground.  They’ve asked you whether any registered sex offenders live nearby.

Over the past few years, many municipalities across the country – including some in Pennsylvania – have passed local ordinances that restrict where sex offenders can live.  Most of them say something like “a convicted sex offender may not reside within 2,500 feet of a child-care facility, recreational facility, community center, public park or school.”  If the listing is in one of these municipalities, you might think the ordinance would keep registered offenders at least a half-mile away from the home.  In fact, you might even say something like “Oh, you don’t have to worry about that, our local laws keep those kind of people away from our community.”

But you’d probably be wrong.

A recent decision by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has basically invalidated these sorts of local ordinances throughout the state.

The case of Fross v. County of Allegheny involved an Allegheny County ordinance with the language cited above. A unanimous Supreme Court ruled that because the ordinance would push sex offenders to live in “localized penal colonies of sorts” – a map showed that most of the county would be off limits – it clearly conflicted with the existing registration and tracking provisions incorporated into the current Megan’s Law.

In short, since the state already has created a system to keep track of the activities of these offenders, the Supreme Court ruled that local governments cannot create additional layers of restrictions.  Based on this ruling, it’s likely that most or all ordinances similar to the ones in Allegheny County are also invalid and some municipalities are now going back and repealing them in order to avoid additional litigation.

So what does it mean to you as the buyer’s agent? State law says real estate licensees have no duty to research or disclose information about sex offenders, so keep doing what you should have been doing all along – recommending that your buyers check the PA Megan’s Law registry to see what registered offenders may live near a property.  The site is easy to use; just enter the address you want to know about and select how far you want the search to go.  Results are shown both as a list and plotted on a map and they include information such as the offender’s name, photograph and relevant history.

Finally, remember that this is a potential issue for all buyers, not just ones with children, so be sure to let all buyers know of the site.  If you use the PAR Buyer Agency Contract (Form BAC), paragraph 16 gives buyers the information they need to know.  Be sure to bring this to your clients’ attention as you review the contract with them and then remind them again when signing the Agreement of Sale, which has similar language in the Notices on the back of page 1.