§5-19-12. Buyer's right to cancel home solicitation sale.

(a) A buyer has the right to cancel a home solicitation sale until midnight of the third business day following execution by the buyer of an agreement or offer to purchase, which notice is effective when delivered or when deposited in the mail properly addressed to the seller, postage prepaid. The seller must deliver to the buyer and obtain the buyer's written signature to a written agreement or offer to purchase designating as the date of the transaction the date on which the buyer actually signs and containing the following under the conspicuous caption:

"BUYER'S RIGHT TO CANCEL"

"If this agreement was solicited at your residence and you do not want the goods or services, you may cancel this agreement by delivering or mailing a notice to the seller. The notice must say that you are cancelling the agreement and must be delivered or mailed before midnight of the third business day after you sign this agreement. The notice must be delivered or mailed to:

_______________________________________________."
(insert name and mailing address of seller)

Alternately, the seller may deliver to the buyer the notice required by the Federal Trade Commission Trade Regulation Rule concerning Cooling-Off Period for Sales Made at Homes or at Certain Other Locations, Title 16, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 429, as amended from time to time, which shall satisfy the notice requirement of this section. Until the seller has complied with this section the buyer may cancel the home solicitation sale within one year after the date of the sale by notifying the seller in any manner and by any means of the buyer's intention to cancel.

(b) The buyer has a duty to take reasonable care of the goods in the buyer's possession before cancellation and for a reasonable time thereafter, during which time the goods are otherwise at seller's risk. Within 10 days after a home solicitation sale has been cancelled or an offer to purchase revoked, the seller must tender to the buyer any payments made or goods traded in by the buyer, or the amount equal to the trade-in allowance stated in the agreement, and any note or other evidence of debt. Within a reasonable time thereafter the buyer, upon demand, must tender at the buyer's residence to the seller any goods delivered by the seller. If the seller fails to demand such possession within 20 days after receipt of the notice, the goods become the property of the buyer without obligation to pay for them.

(c) The provisions of this section shall not apply if the buyer furnishes the seller with a separate dated and signed personal statement describing an emergency requiring immediate remedy and modifying or waiving his right to cancel. The use of printed forms for this purpose is prohibited.

(Acts 1971, No. 2052, p. 3290, §8; Acts 1996, No. 96-576, p. 887, §2.)