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Yes and I still don't see why it would matter. It is still a house and the house itself had nothing to do with what was done by those who lived there. If someone is so scared their potential home is tainted in some way they should just build a brand new shiny pretty and be done with it. I can guess though, that property they build on will at some point have had someone buried on it.
If it doesn't matter, than what's wrong with disclosing that information?
Horrible things happen in homes all of the time that nobody knows about. Unless you're getting a brand new home, you don't actually know unless it was published.
This would not need to be disclosed in Texas. I lived in a haunted house for a while. When we finally asked the agent why all these "weird" things were going on, her reply was, "Oh, that's just Florence." She had slipped in the bathtub and died.
She might have been nice when she was alive, but it's rude for the dead to turn on lights without turning them off, move things around, turn pictures upside down, and slam doors behind guests. Just plain rude...
In California, the manner/occurrence of death in the property must be disclosed if it happened 3 years prior to when an offer is made.
California has material disclosure laws like any other state. The question is, is a death on the property a material event? Was a gruesome murder committed, etc... or was it a type of death that some aspect of the house caused.
The related statute (CC 1710.2) does not say that a death on a property within three years must be disclosed. It is: you need not disclose a death occurring more than three years ago.
There was this case 20 or 30 years ago, details escape me, where a murder occurred 10 years before the sale. When the new owners found out, they sued and it went to the appellate court and they sided with the plaintiff. The feeling was that a known murder should have been disclosed as a material event with no timeline involved.
California then made a law to try to limit how far back one needs to consider and they came up with three years.
So the disclosure law is the same as always, you must disclose material events, such as any heinous crime on the property, but now you don't have to disclose it if it was more than 3 years ago. It also clarified the federal standard on AIDS patient's right to privacy.
If asked about any material event and you have knowledge, this statute does not protect you even if three years have passed. That is still considered misrepresentation. Basically, you can never lie about knowledge you have. That has not changed.
The California Association of Realtors has adopted a policy of disclosing every death within three years because they do not feel Real Estate Agents/Brokers should be in a position to determine if a particular death is a material event or not. Their position is to disclose and let the buyer decide. I do not think that is a bad policy. But it is not the law.
This would not need to be disclosed in Texas. I lived in a haunted house for a while. When we finally asked the agent why all these "weird" things were going on, her reply was, "Oh, that's just Florence." She had slipped in the bathtub and died.
She might have been nice when she was alive, but it's rude for the dead to turn on lights without turning them off, move things around, turn pictures upside down, and slam doors behind guests. Just plain rude...
That's hilarious. If she even made my pictures crooked I'd be pissed
This would not need to be disclosed in Texas. I lived in a haunted house for a while. When we finally asked the agent why all these "weird" things were going on, her reply was, "Oh, that's just Florence." She had slipped in the bathtub and died.
She might have been nice when she was alive, but it's rude for the dead to turn on lights without turning them off, move things around, turn pictures upside down, and slam doors behind guests. Just plain rude...
I totally understand how you felt. We've had glasses suspend in mid-air, then fall and shatter. Chairs would be pulled away from tables and then turned around to face people sitting in the next room. Flowers in a vase with stems bent in half and worse--bedroom doorknob being turned. Not fun!
Surprisingly, when the house received major renovations all of that stopped. So we didn't have to worry about disclosing anything since nothing happened for several years before putting it up for sale.
In Idaho, not only is disclosure not necessary, but if asked directly, the seller is allowed to refuse to answer. Of course if you say "I'm not going to respond to that question", that sort of answers the question by itself. But still. There is absolutely no obligation for the seller or the agent to disclose this, and in fact the agent can get in trouble for disclosing it without seller permission.
You're right, if someone doesn't want to answer, you sort of have your answer. That would really raise a red flag for me.
Do people not google the address of the house they are buying?
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