Realtors are required to disclose material facts to home buyers. Is a murder or other notorious event a material fact?
Do Realtors have to disclose notorious events that occurred at a property?
Take the case of a salesperson named Roscoe who has a client named Zane. Zane is a long time friend of the family and he listed his luxury condo for sale with Roscoe. Zane's condo is beautiful, immaculately clean and in a nice part of town.
But things get a little complicated from here.
Zane's condo was the site of a widely publicized and grisly murder of a celebrity who lived in Zane's building. The celebrity's body was found in Zane's second bedroom. As a result of the murder, Zane had weeks of bad dreams until finally he moved to a hotel and enlisted Roscoe's services. Roscoe put the condo on the market and shortly there after it sold at open house to Deanna. Deanna thought it was sort of cool to be connected to the celebrity.
Roscoe kept in touch with Deanna through annual calendars and then a few years later when Deanna was ready to move she asked Roscoe to list the property. Roscoe listed the property for sale but he neglected to either disclaim or disclose the murder.
Sally bought the condo and then one night while reading Wikipedia, she finds out that her home was the site of the celebrity's final moments on this earth. Sally uses that room for her nursery.
Since Deanna and Roscoe did not disclose the murder, does Sally have an action against Roscoe, Deanna or for that matter Zane?
In the Commonwealth of Virginia, there is no requirement to disclose (or disclaim) "stigmatizing events".
Stigmatizing events are events which have no physical affect on the property. So, whether the property was the site of a homicide, felony, or suicide, the seller and agent are not required to disclose the event.
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For more information or to set up an appointment call Nesbitt Realty at (703)765-0300.
Will is the principal broker of Nesbitt Realty and Condo Alexandria. He is licensed in anywhere in the Commonwealth of Virginia, but focuses on those communities found in and around Alexandria, Arlington, Mount Vernon and Springfield/Franconia.
Will has been involved in real estate management, sales and investment for more than twenty years. He is a veteran of the U.S. Army. While in the army, he studied Russian at Monterey's Defense Language Institute. He is also a "veteran of the dotcom wars" and built most of the sites associated with NesbittRealty.com
Will currently resides in Belle Haven Estates just outside Old Town, overlooking New Alexandria. He is a former president of the Mount Vernon Youth Athletic Association and founded the Alexandria Fun with Friends Group. Will is the author of BattlestorM, a tabletop fantasy game, which was published by Ral Partha Publishing in the late '90's, and Arthur's Realm, a boardgame available at the Gamecrafter.
