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5 Responses to “Does a real estate agent have to disclose a death in a home?”

1. Janet_P said:

   Feb 01, 09 at 6:41 pm

   They always CAN, the law dictates when they have to. They always have to if directly asked and they know.

2. MotherMay said:

   Feb 02, 09 at 1:33 am

   No, there has been so many deaths in so many houses that the real estate agent would be killing a sale (no pun intended) if he/she had to tell about the deaths in all the houses they had to sell.

3. quickmls said:

   Feb 03, 09 at 11:36 am

   In most states, deaths in a home are not considered a "material fact". Therefore, they do not have to be disclosed. If you do decide to disclose, you must make sure that the Seller has allowed it. Sometimes it is best to do so if you believe that it will be discovered anyway (e.g. it’s in the news; the neighbors are talking about it; the house is well known for it; etc.) Although perhaps not legally required to, for the sake of a smooth sale, it makes sense to do so.

4. glenn said:

   Feb 06, 09 at 10:07 am

   An owner has to disclose a death in the home if the death was caused by the condition of the house. They also should disclose the death if it was strange or violent- especially if it was in the news or if the neighbors would be sure to talk a lot about it.

   A Realtor has much less chance of being knowledgeable of the event than the owner but the Realtor has a responsibility to disclose these things as well.

   Also the Realtor can get into trouble for saying something like :the last guy died of Aids (or whatever). You probably are not privy to the death certificate and don’t know any more than what some neighbor is spreading around, and there are privacy laws.

5. Bubbles said:

   Feb 06, 09 at 4:34 pm

   I don’t think there is… it’s really just the opposite if they are suppose to and they don’t- you can get into trouble. Why someone would disclose it if they didn’t have to god only knows……

   Also you just have to write someone died in the house- not how or why….. we bought a house a man killed himself in but it only said died in the house. We found out through the neighbors about the rest but we didn’t really care.

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