When you are selling a home, you have to be honest about any problems it may have—not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because it’s the law. You can’t just tell somebody that nothing is wrong with your house only for them to find out that the entire roof needs to be replaced a month into owning the property.
What information are you required to disclose by law?
For the most part, you are only required to disclose any information that you know about. This means that if you had no idea that your roof needed to be replaced, then it was up to the buyer to identify that problem via a home inspection. However, depending on the state, you may be required to to search for certain problems yourself. This means if the buyer finds out about the problem that you were required to find out about but didn’t, you may be required to pay the buyer compensation.
Disclosure of any deaths that occurred on the property in the past depends on the state as well. Some states require you to disclose unnatural deaths that may stigmatize the house due to the psychological damage it inflicted on the property, while peaceful deaths may not have to be disclosed unless asked for.
There is also a federal law known as the Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act that requires you to disclose information about all lead-based paint and hazards on your property if your home was built before 1978.
It’s a good idea to have a professional inspection done yourself in order to find out if there’s anything you need to disclose. This will help to build trust with your buyers. For more advice on selling a home, contact Randy Lindsay today.
