Seller's Disclosure?

Question

Can you, as a seller, NOT disclose important information to the buyer?

Story: A gal my husband and I both know (I wouldn't call her a friend) lives in a condo that has a lot of strutrual problems. Her HOA are in charge of repairs, but it has yet to be done. Let's just say, it's a pretty bad buy in general. How anyone that stupid could buy a place that bad is amazing.

Anyway, she is claiming that she doesn't have to disclose anything about the structure since it's not her job to fix it.

PLEASE tell me that she's wrong. She's the sort of person who is COMPETELY full of herself, and I would LOVE for her to be wrong about this.

What she writes:

OK as some of you may know, but most probably don't, we bought a condo that has turned into the Money Pit. Only luckily, so far it hasn't cost us much because I'm good at bitching and getting things taken care of. It's a long, long story but basically we live in an upscale condo building that cost a lot but the building is super old and the people that gutted it and made it condos did inferior work. Plus it has a lot of drainage problems and structural problems, all of which have resulted in us having cracks on our walls and ceilings, our floor is sinking into the unit below ours, our doors sometimes don't fit in their jambs, etc. All of this damage has happened in the past year - it's happening SO fast, and that's the worrisome thing.

Anyway we've had a million other problems - our place had to be completely rewired ... (cont)...

because they did the phones wrong, we were without heat part of our first winter here and without AC part of last summer when it was over 100 every day. They randomly turn the water off and on, it's better now but while they were finishing other units (we were some of the first people to move in) had no water on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I made dinner with bottled water more times than I can count - plus it's just a sanitary issue. What else ... oh they lost our keys so they had to change our locks (why they insist on having keys to a place WE OWN is beyond me). Our closet shelves kept falling out of the wall so we finally had California Closets come out and redo them all. We have electrical issues, where outlets pop when you turn stuff off, but they swear it's 100% fine.

(cont)

It's been just one thing after another. And others have problems too - the basement units have been flooded with sewage twice now. I feel sorry for those people...
Another HUGE issue is that the property is supposed to be secure. We are supposed to be able to buzz people into the building, but they didn't know somehow that these days nobody uses land lines so they haven't come up with a way to get the buzzer working. So everyone and their brother knows the one code there is to get in - people randomly just come in and use our pool or our gym, it's insane. They are definitely not secure, but they won't fix it because it would cost a lot of money to completely redo the buzzer system.

These would be the nicest condos ever if they'd just done the research and didn't go with the cheapest contractors (ie the illegals at Home Depot) to do all the work...

This isn't ME. We aren't stupid enough to live in a condo. This REALLY is a gal my husband and I both know and the sort of gal who you REALLY want to be wrong.

Answer 1

It depends on the state laws.

Some states require Realtors to disclose, but Sellers are only required to answer direct questions truthfully.

Some states have a form that must be filled out and provided with the contract covering many structural issues. Unfortunately, the Seller can answer "don't know" to them and there's no recourse other than a $300 fine if they don't provide the disclosures at all.

Some states do make Sellers liable for known faults that are not affirmatively disclosed. Proving the Seller knew is often difficult unless you can locate someone that gave them an estimate of the cost to correct the fault.

So the answer is that it's impossible to say what her duty is without knowing what state the property is in.

I can tell you this though... Realtors tend to know these things, and tend to disclose to Buyers, and when they learn a Seller is trying to pull a fast one, they don't show the home except as an example of what NOT to buy.

Answer 2

i wouldn't in any respect purchase a house without a sellers disclosure. If there is not any sellers disclosure than this releases the supplier of all criminal accountability as quickly as he sells the residing house. this implies the supplier isn't disclosing to the customer if there is something incorrect with the residing house. some states require a sellers disclosure earlier the valuables is offered.

Answer 3

Unfortunately, or fortunately in your case, any problems affecting her unit directly are her responsibility to disclose and the buyer will have recourse against her if she does not disclose them. Just because she made a piss-poor buying decision doesn't give her the right to dump it onto someone else. If she refuses an inspection, which would be stupid to not require, then her actions speak for itself.

It's her problem, not the associations, if her unit is moldy, regardless of whether or not poor drainage caused the mold. It's her problem, not the associations, if her unit is affected by termites. Structural problems directly affecting her unit are her problem, regardless of who fixes it, be it her or the association.

Answer 4

The seller has a duty to disclose, period (but only for the unit itself, not the common areas or elements).

If she doesn't disclose, she's opening herself up to a lawsuit.

Answer 5

Get an attorney now and sue the developer, maybe a class action.. Don't worry about your "friend".