Section 44-3-5. Violations of article

   (a) It shall be unlawful for any person:

   (1) To offer to sell or to sell any subdivided land in violation of any provision of this article;

   (2) To offer to sell or to sell any subdivided land by means of any oral or written untrue statement of a material fact or any omission to state a material fact necessary in order to make the statements made in the light of the circumstances under which they are made not misleading, the purchaser not knowing of the untruth or omission, if such person shall not sustain the burden of proof that such person did not know and, in the exercise of reasonable care, could not have known of the untruth or omission; or

   (3) To offer to sell or to sell any subdivided land by means of any property report except a property report which complies with this article unless the offer of disposition of an interest in land is exempt from the provisions of Code Section 44-3-3 pursuant to Code Section 44-3-4.

(b) It shall be unlawful for any person to make to any prospective purchaser any representation that any federal, state, county, or municipal agency, board, or commission has passed judgment in any way upon the truthfulness, completeness, or accuracy of a property report or upon the merits of such land, or has recommended or given approval to such land or transaction.

(c) It shall be unlawful for any person knowingly to cause to be made, in any document used under this article, any statement which is, at the time it is made and in light of the circumstances under which it is made, false or misleading in any material respect.

(d) It shall be unlawful for any person in connection with the offer, sale, or purchase of any subdivided land, directly or indirectly:

   (1) To employ any device, scheme, or artifice to defraud; or

   (2) To engage in any transaction, act, practice, or course of business which operates or would operate as a fraud or deceit upon the purchaser or seller.

Ga. L. 1971, p. 856, § 7; Code 1981, § 44-3-47; Code 1981, § 44-3-8, enacted by Ga. L. 1982, p. 1431, § 1; Ga. L. 1983, p. 3, § 33; Ga. L. 1988, p. 13, § 44; Ga. L. 1989, p. 14, § 44; Ga. L. 1990, p. 606, § 1; Code 1981, § 44-3-5, as redesignated by Ga. L. 1995, p. 993, § 1.