Does The Seller Have To Tell The Buyer When There IS Something Wrong With Their House



Lot's of things can affect the outcome of a residential sale. Some things can be predicted. And some things, are beyond our control. When you engage in the sale of a home, as a seller, and omit, or leave out potential problems with your home, and those things affect the value of your home, you're asking for trouble.

In 1985 there was a case that was heard by the Supreme Court, Johnson VS Davis.  The Court  ruled that a home seller who knows of facts that materially affect the property's value that aren't readily observable and known to a buyer has a duty to disclose them to the buyer. This is the law in Florida today.

 Again in 2011, the 2nd district court heard a similar case, and cited Johnson VS Davis, stating that the seller knew, there were latent defects with the property. In this case, the seller had dome significant remodeling to the property, which required permits that the seller never obtained.  The buyer was unaware of the missing permits, until after the closing of the property.  When the buyer found out about the missing permits, they further discovered the work was not up to code, and the buyer had to re-do all the work.  

 Ultimately the courts decided that the seller had no way of knowing that the contractor hadn't pulled the permits, but still found the seller liable, because the seller, should have known.

 That was also over turned in appeal, and the judgement was reversed. The only way to hold the seller liable, was to prove that the seller should have, or did know that of the defect.  
A nondisclosure claim under Johnson v. Davis has four elements:
  • The home seller must know of a defect in the property
  • The defect must materially affect the property's value
  • The defect must not be readily observable by the buyer and must be unknown to the buyer
  • The buyer must establish that the seller failed to disclose the defect to the buyer
The best course of action is to just be honest about anything that can affect the value of the property. Tell your agent, and do the right thing.  It can save you lot's of time and trouble. Court issues can cost you lot's of time, and even keep your property off the market while litigation occurs.  

I'm Michelle Flood Realtor/Notary Public
Your Realtor For life
Florida Luxury Realty
theagentdiva@gmail.com
727-457-7474



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

List That House With FHA & VA Finance Options!

Image
Michelle Flood Realtor/Notary Public theagentdiva@gmail.com 727-457-7474 I look at the Multiple Listing System daily to see what market conditions are doing. I noticed recently that more and more often sellers are not offering FHA or  VA mortgages as finance options with their listing. That's a bad idea. Let me explain why. When you're selling your home, marketing your property is really important! You want to make sure that your home get's plenty of exposure, so that it can sell at the best price in the shortest amount of time. Current market conditions, and current economic factors make it important that your listing can fetch as many buyers attention as possible. So, when entering a listing agreement with your agent, the vast majority of buyers are going to have to get some kind of financing. There are several products you can get, but top 3 are, FHA, Conventional and VA loans. Currently a majority of buyers will need to use an FHA, or VA mortgage prod...
Read more

2018 Is A Great Time To Sell Your Home!

Image
It’s a sellers market! And if you’ve been considering selling your home, 2018 might be the year to do it. According to Trulia, only 6% of homeowners are considering selling their home this year. And the buyers are out there!! The poll also said, that 31% of homeowners thought, that this year, would be better than the last for home sales. That mean, fewer homes as competition, making this a classic sellers market. Zillow, agrees with Trulia. Which like I said before, makes this a sellers market. You may think, great more value to my home. However, while the prices of homes, will go up with lack of inventory, what also goes up is the amount of down payment a buyer will have to come up with. And if the buyer is unable to meet that criteria, the loan won’t happen, killing the deal. So, with all of this going on, you should consider that 2018 is the year to sell your home. And there are 4 reasons why you should. BUYERS: They’re out there. And the inventory is lacking,...
Read more
Image
It's time to sell your house, and you need to find an agent. You remember Aunt Barbara is an agent, do you call her? Hiring family or friends, when embarking on a Real Estate transaction is a double edged sword. You want to help your person out, give them the business, but is it always the right thing to do for you? Relationship status is important, but you need to make sure your friend/family member has the right stuff to get the job done. The ability to asses your needs and then disassociate your relationship is important. You need honesty, along with skill, to help facilitate your real estate goals. Home buying or selling is a stressful time, a huge and expensive life decision sometimes deserves requiring having someone you don't have a personal relationship with. I pride myself in being able to take my fried hat off and become the professional you hired. If something goes awry in this stressful time, I promise that I can be objective, and not hold it against yo...
Read more