Residential Real Property Disclosure: Is the POA for Seller excused?

I regularly receive calls from listing agents asking if the POA (or Attorney-in-Fact) for the seller is exempt from completing the disclosure.  For DC, MD, and VA properties, the answer is “NO”; despite the fact that the POA may have never set foot in the property.

Of course, if the seller is able, it is best practice to have the seller complete the disclosures. However, in many cases, the very reason that a POA is acting is due to the fact that the seller is unavailable or, in some cases, incapacitated.  So, then what?

In the case that a seller is unable to complete the disclosures, the POA should proceed to complete the disclosures to the best of his/her knowledge and belief.  In some similar cases, I have suggested adding the following language to the disclosure statement:

The undersigned is a non-occupant attorney-in-fact for the seller, as principal.  The principal remains incapable of effectively communicating, completing, and attesting to the disclosures herein.  The undersigned, to the best of her knowledge and belief and pursuant to the powers granted by said principal as vested in her, has, in good faith, completed the disclosures contained herein.