Arizona Real Estate Broker Exam — All Questions

Which Arizona agency administers the state's environmental quality statutes in Title 49?

• a.The Arizona State Land Department
• b.The Arizona Department of Water Resources
• c.The Department of Environmental Quality✓
• d.The Arizona Department of Real Estate

The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality administers Title 49, which covers water quality, air quality, waste programmes and on-site wastewater treatment facilities. The Department of Water Resources administers Title 45 groundwater and surface water law, the State Land Department manages state trust land under Article X of the Constitution, and the Department of Real Estate regulates licensees under Title 32, Chapter 20.

What does A.R.S. 32-2117 require the Arizona Department of Real Estate to make available regarding earth fissures?

• a.A list of parcels the Department has certified as fissure-free
• b.A soil stability warranty for buyers of unimproved land
• c.An engineering report on every subdivision in the state
• d.Earth fissure maps prepared by the Arizona geological survey✓

A.R.S. 32-2117(A) requires the Department, on receipt of maps from the Arizona geological survey, to provide any earth fissure map to a member of the public on request and to give website access to those maps. A notice printed below each map states that the map 'supplements, and is not a substitute for, a professional inspection of property for defects and conditions.' Subsection B gives a subdivider, owner or licensee immunity where written disclosure or a public report notice of the map and website is given.

What disclosure does federal law require when a pre-1978 dwelling is sold?

• a.An asbestos survey completed by a certified inspector
• b.A lead-based paint disclosure and a chance to inspect✓
• c.A mould remediation certificate from a licensed contractor
• d.A radon test result no more than twelve months old

The Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act requires sellers and landlords of most housing built before 1978 to disclose known lead-based paint and hazards, to give the buyer the federal lead hazard pamphlet, and to allow a purchaser a ten-day period, unless the parties agree otherwise, to conduct a risk assessment or inspection. There is no parallel federal mandate for asbestos surveys, radon testing or mould certificates in a residential resale.

What is the purpose of a Phase I environmental site assessment in a commercial purchase?

• a.To identify recognised environmental conditions on the site✓
• b.To certify that the property complies with local zoning
• c.To value the property for lender underwriting purposes
• d.To remediate any contamination found on the property

A Phase I environmental site assessment is a due diligence review of records, a site reconnaissance and interviews, aimed at identifying recognised environmental conditions. It is the standard route to the federal all appropriate inquiries requirement that supports the innocent landowner and bona fide prospective purchaser defences. It does not clean anything up, it is not a zoning opinion, and it is not an appraisal.

Under federal Superfund law, what may happen to a buyer who acquires contaminated land without any due diligence?

• a.The buyer's liability is capped at the purchase price
• b.The buyer is immune because the prior owner polluted
• c.The buyer is liable only for contamination the buyer caused
• d.The buyer can be liable for cleanup as a current owner✓

CERCLA imposes liability on current owners and operators of a contaminated site regardless of who caused the contamination. The statutory defences, including the innocent landowner and bona fide prospective purchaser provisions, are available only to a buyer who conducted all appropriate inquiries before acquiring the property. That is why a Phase I assessment done before closing matters so much in a commercial transaction.

Which system serves a property that is not connected to a municipal sewer?

• a.An on-site wastewater treatment facility, such as a septic system✓
• b.A storm water retention basin serving the subdivision
• c.A greywater recycling tank regulated by the water provider
• d.A shared water well permitted by the county recorder

Where no sewer connection exists, sewage is handled by an on-site wastewater treatment facility, of which a conventional septic tank and disposal field is the common form and alternative systems are engineered variants. These facilities are regulated by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality under Title 49 and its rules, often through delegated county programmes. A retention basin handles storm water, not sewage, and a well supplies water rather than disposing of waste.