I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 517 

To amend the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act of 1974 to prohibit 

certain financial benefits for referrals of business and to improve the 

judicial relief for certain violations, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 13, 2017 

Mr. ELLISON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To amend the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act of 

1974 to prohibit certain financial benefits for referrals 

of business and to improve the judicial relief for certain 

violations, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ensure Fair Prices 

5 in Title Insurance Act of 2017’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO THE REAL ESTATE SETTLEMENT 

2 PROCEDURES ACT OF 1974. 

3 The Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act of 1974 

4 (12 U.S.C. 2601 et seq.) is amended— 

5 (1) in section 8— 

6 (A) in subsection (c)(4)(C), by striking 

7 ‘‘the only thing of value’’ and all that follows 

8 through ‘‘ownership interest or franchise rela9 tionship’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘no fee, 

10 kickback, or thing of value (including any re11 turn on ownership based in whole or part on re12 ferrals paid for or received from an affiliated 

13 business arrangement) is paid or received pur14 suant to any agreement or understanding, oral 

15 or otherwise, for referrals of business incident 

16 to or a part of a real estate settlement service 

17 involving a federally related mortgage loan’’; 

18 and 

19 (B) in subsection (d)— 

20 (i) by amending paragraph (2) to read 

21 as follows: 

22 ‘‘(2) JOINT AND SEVERAL LIABILITY.—Any person 

23 or persons who violate the prohibitions or limitations of 

24 this section shall be jointly and severally liable as follows: 

25 ‘‘(A) To the person or persons charged for the 

26 settlement service involved in the violation in an 


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1 amount equal to three times the amount of any 

2 charge paid for such settlement service. 

3 ‘‘(B) Upon a finding from a court of competent 

4 jurisdiction that a violation of this section occurred, 

5 to any person or persons providing substantially 

6 similar services in the same State where the viola7 tion occurred, in an amount equal to attorneys’ fees 

8 and court costs incurred in initiating an action 

9 under this section.’’; and 

10 (ii) by adding at the end the fol11 lowing: 

12 ‘‘(7) ADDITIONAL RELIEF.—In addition to the rem13 edies set forth in this section, a court may order one or 

14 more of the following types of relief: 

15 ‘‘(A) Injunctive relief. 

16 ‘‘(B) Restitution. 

17 ‘‘(C) Other equitable relief as deemed appro18 priate by the court.’’; and 

19 (2) by amending section 16 to read as follows: 

20 ‘‘SEC. 16. JURISDICTION OF COURTS. 

21 ‘‘Any action pursuant to the provisions of section 6, 

22 8, or 9 may be brought in the United States district court 

23 or in any other court of competent jurisdiction, for the 

24 district in which the property involved is located, or where 


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1 the violation is alleged to have occurred, within 3 years 

2 of the date of the occurrence of the violation.’’. 

Æ 


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