Southeast Washington Real Estate Disclosure
February 5th, 2007
Question: Must a seller or listing agent disclose that a murder, suicide or other accidental death occurred in a home?
Answer: The agent has no obligation to make a disclosure that a suicide or other death occurred in the house, however, the seller may have an obligation. Both the seller and the seller’s agent have distinct duties to disclose material defects to the seller’s property. Sellers must disclose material adverse defects that are not readily discoverable by a buyer of which they know or have reason to know. For sellers, a defect is material if it affects the market value of or the buyer’s desire to purchase the property. Whether a defect is material is a question of fact.
A licensee is required to disclose all existing material facts known by the licensee and not apparent or readily ascertainable to a party which adversely affect the physical condition of or title to the property. For licensees, a material fact is defined as information that substantially adversely affects the value of the property or a party’s ability to perform its obligations in a real estate transaction or operates to materially impair or defeat the purpose of the transaction. The fact or suspicion that the property, or any neighboring property, is or was the site of a murder, suicide or other death, rape or other sex crime, assault or other violent crime, robbery or burglary, illegal drug activity, gang-related activity, political or religious activity, or other act, occurrence, or use not adversely affecting the physical condition of or title to the property is not a material fact that a licensee must disclose.
Clearly, the listing agent has no obligation to disclose. If the death is something that would make a buyer less likely to want to purchase the house, then the seller may have an obligation to disclose. That is an issue that seller should discuss with their own legal counsel. Agent should not advise seller on that issue. Clearly, the relevance of a death in the house is going to be more significant to some buyers than others. Likewise, some judges or juries would find it to be a material defect while others will not. At least one state has addressed this issue and determined that it did have to be disclosed. Neither Washington courts nor the Washington legislature has issued an opinion on whether sellers must disclose a death in the home. Accordingly, there is no clear answer to this question and, as a result, agent should not attempt to advise sellers on this issue, however, agent should advise seller, in writing, to seek legal advice with respect to seller’s obligation to make the disclosure.
Hotline Attorney Annie Fitzsimmons writes the Legal Hotline for the Washington Association of Realtors®
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