We get this question a lot and let’s unpack it and understand the simple reason why you should use it. It begins with § 55.1-712 Duties of real estate licensees; it reads:  

A real estate licensee representing an owner of residential real property as the listing broker has a duty to inform each such owner represented by that licensee of the owner’s rights and obligations under this chapter. A real estate licensee representing a purchaser of residential real property or, if the purchaser is not represented by a licensee, the real estate licensee representing an owner of residential real estate and dealing with the purchaser has a duty to inform each such purchaser of the purchaser’s rights and obligations under this chapter. Provided that a real estate licensee performs those duties, the licensee shall have no further duties to the parties to a residential real estate transaction under this chapter and shall not be liable to any party to a residential real estate transaction for a violation of this chapter or for any failure to disclose any information regarding any real property subject to this chapter. 

You may be asking yourself, isn’t this the DPOR form with the link? Yes, that form has a link which takes you to the DPOR website where all the disclosures are listed. So why should you use SUM-1? Simply enough, SUM-1 has all the disclosures on it, and it is a valuable tool to go over them with your client. Using SUM-1 precludes any excuse that the client did not click on the link or even know about things they needed to watch for. It’s not necessarily a form to cover you from liability, it is a form to help you cover your client from any potential pitfalls.