Utah's New REPC Is Live: Read Section 3 First

What changed in Utah's new REPC?

The Utah Real Estate Commission and the Attorney General's office approved a rewritten Real Estate Purchase Contract effective August 19, 2026, and it supersedes the previous form on January 1, 2027. The largest structural change is that buyer conditions are now opt-in: due diligence, appraisal, financing, and subject to sale each apply only if affirmatively checked in a new Section 3 checklist on the front page. The form also splits the old Financing & Appraisal Deadline into two separate dates, sets a 50% default split of earnest money on a financing cancellation, defines when an electronic notice is received, and renumbers nearly every section.

This one is different from the usual forms update, and not because of the change everyone is passing around.

The new REPC is the first substantive rewrite since 2018. A nine-member Utah Association of REALTORS® subcommittee worked on it from August through December of 2025, the Commission approved it and sent it to the Attorney General in June, and the amended version was adopted on August 19. The form is live right now. January 1 is the date the old form dies, not the date the new one starts.

That distinction matters more than it sounds like it does. For roughly four months both forms are valid, which means you can receive an offer written on the new REPC before you have ever read one. The first one could land on your listing this week, and when it does you need to know that an unchecked box means something it has never meant before in Utah.

The summary going around right now leads with the earnest money change: cancel under the financing condition and a percentage of the deposit goes to the seller, defaulting to 50% if nobody picks a number. That's real, and I'll get to it. But it isn't the change that will cost your clients the most money.

Section 3 changed the default, and the default is now expensive

Open the new form to the front page and you'll find a checklist that didn't exist before:

3. BUYER CONDITIONS OF PURCHASE. If checked in the affirmative, the following Buyer's conditions of purchase apply: (a) [ ] Due Diligence Condition (see Section 12.1) (b) [ ] Appraisal Condition (see Section 12.2) (c) [ ] Financing Condition (see Section 12.3) (d) [ ] Subject to Sale of Buyer's Property Condition

Now read how the operative sections respond to it. Section 12.1 reads: "Buyer's obligation to purchase the Property is conditioned upon Buyer's Due Diligence... and ONLY applies if checked in the affirmative in Section 3(a); otherwise Sections 12.1(a) through 12.1(c) do not apply." Materially identical language opens the appraisal condition at 12.2 and the financing condition at 12.3.

Compare that to the form we've all been writing on. The old REPC asked you to elect: Section 8.1 read "IS / IS NOT conditioned upon Buyer's Due Diligence," with two boxes. Leave both blank and you created an ambiguity somebody had to argue about, usually badly, sometimes expensively, but it was an argument you could have.

The new form doesn't create an argument. It assumes the condition does not exist. A Section 3 left blank produces a clean, non-contingent, fully at-risk offer with no due diligence out, no appraisal out, and no financing out, and there is nothing to litigate because the form is doing exactly what it says.

So here's the point to hold onto. The 50% financing default can cost a buyer half the Earnest Money Deposit if the buyer cancels under the Financing Condition. A blank Section 3 is the bigger problem: the buyer simply does not have the Due Diligence, Appraisal, Financing, or Subject to Sale conditions at all. They have to be affirmatively selected to apply. Without them there is no contractual route to cancel under those conditions and recover the deposit, and under Section 19 a seller facing a buyer default may elect to cancel and retain the Earnest Money Deposit as liquidated damages.

Then check the box in 3(c) and look at what sits underneath it:

(i) [ ] 50% of the Earnest Money Deposit; or [ ] _____ % of the Earnest Money Deposit... shall be released to Seller if Buyer cancels the REPC in accordance with Section 12.3(a). If no box is checked, then the percentage shall be 50%.

On a $700,000 Salt Lake purchase with 1% earnest money, a financing cancellation now moves $3,500 to the seller by default. On a $2.5M Park City contract at 3%, it moves $37,500. Neither number requires anyone to negotiate anything. It's what happens when two boxes go unchecked.

There is a fair defense of this. A financing contingency is a free option, free options are why buyers tie up inventory they aren't committed to, and a deterministic default at least prices that option instead of leaving it to a blank line and a lawyer.

Be precise about which half actually changed, because this one is easy to get wrong. Only the pre-deadline outcome is new. If the buyer cancels under the Financing Condition before the Financing Deadline, the new form releases a percentage of the Earnest Money Deposit to the seller, defaulting to 50% unless a different percentage is selected in Section 3(c), with the remainder released to the buyer. What happens after the Financing Deadline is unchanged: the current form already provides at Section 8.3(b)(iii) that the seller accepts the Earnest Money Deposit as the seller's exclusive remedy, as liquidated damages, if the buyer fails to obtain the loan. The new form carries that forward at Section 12.3(c).

Either way the practical lesson is the same: read the boxes, not the concept. The concept is easy to remember and the boxes are easy to skip.

Six deadlines, renumbered sections, and three dates that don't move

Section 4 now runs six lines where the old Section 24 ran four:

• (a) Seller Disclosure Deadline
• (b) Due Diligence Deadline
• (c) Appraisal Deadline
• (d) Financing Deadline
• (e) Settlement Deadline
• (f) Possession (upon recording, or a stated number of hours or calendar days after)

Splitting appraisal from financing is the right call. The two never ran on the same clock, an appraisal lands on the appraisal management company's schedule while loan conditions clear late, and bundling them pushed the appraisal date out to match underwriting and handed the buyer a long free look.

Two traps come with it.

First, Section 25 rolls only three things off a weekend or holiday: the earnest money delivery, the earnest money deposit, and the Settlement Deadline. Due Diligence, Appraisal, and Financing do not roll. A Financing Deadline that lands on Christmas Day is due at 5:00 PM Mountain on Christmas Day. If you are calculating dates with a tool that applies a blanket business-day rule, it is now handing you wrong dates. Check it against Section 25 before you rely on it.

Second, everything renumbered. Notices went from 18 to 22. Settlement went from 3 to 9. Default went from 16 to 19. Buyer's conditions went from 8 to 12. Every cross-reference in your addenda, templates, checklists, and CRM automations now points at the wrong section.

While you're in there, note the change to Section 22. An electronic notice is now received "when the notice, offer, or counteroffer enters an information processing system (e.g., email server) that the recipient has designated or uses." Not when it's opened. Not when it's seen. When it hits the server. The spam-folder defense is gone in both directions, the same definition governs Acceptance under Section 23, and the email address on file has quietly become a contract term. Confirm working addresses at contract, not at cancellation.

What this means if you sell nightly rentals

Two provisions work together here, and it is worth being precise about which part is actually new.

The one getting attention is Section 8.3(h): a buyer "shall not be obligated to assume any of Seller's personal service agreements," and the seller "shall be responsible for satisfying or terminating" them. Property management, short-term rental management, security monitoring, pest control, landscaping. That's a genuine improvement, and it survives Closing.

The other half is the bookings themselves. Section 10.1(b) provides that the buyer accepts title subject to any short-term rental bookings, meaning periods of fewer than thirty consecutive days, that do not expire before Closing, and Section 10.1(a) does the same for leases of thirty days or more. That part is not a change. The current form says the same thing at Sections 6.1(a) and 6.1(b); the new form renumbers it. Section 9.3 makes possession expressly subject to both.

What did change is the management agreement. The current Section 6.1(a) also has the buyer take title subject to any existing rental and property management agreements that do not expire before Closing. That sentence is gone from the new form, and Section 8.3(h) reverses it: unless the parties agree otherwise in writing, the buyer is not obligated to assume the seller's personal service agreements and the seller is responsible for satisfying or terminating them. So the new default on a Deer Valley or Canyons purchase is that the management company goes and the guests stay. Your buyer can end up owning a property with pre-sold stays at last season's rates, deposits collected by a manager who is no longer under contract, and no operator, unless somebody plans for it before Closing.

Ask every nightly-rental seller for the management agreement and the forward booking calendar at the listing appointment. Read the termination clause, price the fee into the deal, and handle deposits and rate exposure by addendum. Section 11(g) still only obliges the seller to disclose the booking schedule as of the Seller Disclosure Deadline, which is not the same as allocating the money. If you're newer to this product type, our guides on where nightly rentals are allowed in Park City and what a Park City ski condo actually earns as a nightly rental cover the underwriting your client will be doing alongside the contract.

One more for investors. Section 21 carries two things forward from the current form: the definition of a Permissible Transfer, meaning a transfer of the buyer's interest into a business entity in which the buyer holds a legal interest, and the rule that writing "and/or assigns" after the buyer's name is consent only to a Permissible Transfer. What is new is the rest of it. The buyer must give the seller timely notice of the transfer and remains solely responsible for compliance with the REPC and any applicable third-party and legal obligations. The new form also requires the seller's prior written consent before the buyer advertises or markets the property for future use, such as a short-term rental, lease, or resale, prior to Closing. That last one catches ordinary investors who want to line up bookings or a tenant before they own the property.

What to fix before January 1

The rest of the form is a long list of smaller upgrades. Smart home devices now convey by default under a new Section 7.2, whether hard wired or not, along with their dedicated controls but not the seller's phone. Electric vehicle charging stations get a checkbox in 7.3, where unchecked boxes are now expressly excluded. Microwaves moved into the default-included list. The HOA reserve analysis, bylaws, and fee and fine schedules joined the seller disclosures at Section 11. Section 9.3 requires the seller to hand over a duplicate key and keyless entry code at Closing, and sets a holdover fee of the written amount or $300 per day, whichever is greater, characterized as liquidated damages rather than rent and available to set treble damages. Section 5 now lets a seller cancel outright if the earnest money misses either four-day window.

Here's the short list worth working through before you write or receive your next offer:

1. Check your deadline tool against six dates, and confirm it is not rolling Due Diligence, Appraisal, or Financing to Monday.
2. Read Section 3 first on every offer you write and every offer you receive, before anything else on the page.
3. Update the section numbers in any checklist, addendum, or client handout you work from. All of them moved.
4. Watch the two four-day earnest money clocks. Delivery and deposit are now something a seller can cancel over.
5. Confirm the other side's notice email address at contract, and send notices from something that timestamps them.
6. Order the reserve study early on any condo or HOA listing. Associations get up to fourteen days to produce documents.
7. Find out when your forms platform ships the new REPC. The contract is live; the software historically lags.

The four months between now and January are not slack. They are the window to learn this form on the deals you are handling now, rather than on the first one in January that goes sideways.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I still write on the old REPC?

Yes, through the end of the year. The new form has been effective since August 19, 2026, and the form's own language provides that as of January 1, 2027 it replaces and supersedes the previous version. Unlike the November 2024 revision, no grace period past January 1 is stated on the face of the form, so confirm with your broker before relying on one.

What happens if Section 3 is left completely blank?

Sections 12.1, 12.2, and 12.3 each state that the condition applies only if checked in the affirmative in Section 3. A blank checklist produces an offer with no due diligence, appraisal, or financing condition; these conditions have to be affirmatively selected to apply. On the list side, that is a materially stronger offer than it looks. On the buy side, the buyer has no contractual route to cancel under those conditions and recover the deposit.

Does the buyer still get all of the earnest money back on an appraisal cancellation?

Yes, under Section 12.2(a), if the condition was checked and the buyer cancels by the new Appraisal Deadline. What changed is what has to accompany the notice. The old form required a copy of the Notice of Appraised Value. The new form requires "a complete copy of the appraisal," which can take longer to obtain from the lender than the deadline allows. Request it as soon as the value is communicated verbally.

Do buyers still assume the seller's short-term rental bookings?

Yes, and that part is not new. Section 10.1(b) has the buyer take title subject to bookings that do not expire before Closing, the same as the current form's Section 6.1(b). What changed is the management agreement: under Section 8.3(h) the buyer is not obligated to assume it and the seller must satisfy or terminate it. Handle the bookings, the guest deposits, and the rate exposure by addendum.

When is an emailed cancellation notice effective?

Under Section 22, when it enters an email server the recipient has designated or uses for that purpose and from which the recipient can retrieve it. Not when it's read.

Before you write on the new form

Utah's contract just moved a lot of risk onto the completeness of the front page. The agents who do well with this form over the next year will be the ones who treat Section 3 as a verification step rather than a formality, and who rebuild their deadline tools before January instead of during it.

We've put together a section-by-section breakdown of the new REPC for our own agents, including the renumbering map and the checklist above. If you'd like a copy, or you want to compare notes on how your brokerage is handling the transition, email us at careers@lawsonteam.com or call (435) 252-9198.

This article is a summary for real estate professionals and is not legal advice. Quotations are drawn from the highlighted-changes version of the REPC dated August 19, 2026. Verify the operative language against the official form, and direct interpretation questions to the Utah Association of REALTORS® legal hotline or the Utah Division of Real Estate.

If you're buying or selling anywhere across the Wasatch Front or the Wasatch Back, we're happy to consult on the market and help you assess your options. Reach out to schedule a private consultation with our team, and we'll walk you through how the new form changes your next transaction.

About David Lawson

David Lawson is the founder of the Lawson Real Estate Team, a luxury real estate group serving Park City and the greater Wasatch Back, including Hideout, Midway, Heber, and Kamas, along with Salt Lake City and the Wasatch Front. He leads a team that has closed more than 3,920 transactions and earned recognition as the #1 eXp Realty team in Utah (2022–2025) and previously the #1 Engel & Völkers team worldwide (2019, 2021). David and his team specialize in high-end mountain properties and short-term rental investments, guiding buyers and sellers through two of the most segmented markets in the country.