If you are a homeowner who has recently put your property on the market, then you are probably hesitating to reveal your home’s maintenance problems to potential buyers. You might be thinking that these issues would discourage people from purchasing your home. Not revealing them, however, could get you into a lot of legal trouble.
Property disclosure is an important part of the home selling process, so here are three basic rules to follow when you disclose any problems.
1) Provide copies of past inspection reports
If you already have an interested buyer, make sure to hand over copies of your inspection reports. As the seller, you have a duty to disclose “material defects”. To avoid a lengthy legal battle over possible defects, it would be best to give your buyer your previous home inspection reports – no matter how old they are. By doing so, your buyer cannot say that he or she was not informed of a problem.
2) Disclose any known conditions about the property
The general rule in property disclosure is: “When in doubt, disclose.” You should disclose all the facts that you know about the physical condition of the house, even those that seem minor. A leaky window or pipe may seem trivial to you, but these are still factors that can affect a buyer’s decision.
You should also disclose maintenance issues that you have recently repaired. This way, if your buyer later discovers that the repair job was a failure, you won’t be on the hook for that mess.
3) What you don’t know won’t hurt you – and if you don’t know, don’t guess
The possibility of being sued by your buyer can be scary, but there’s one thing you can count on: the courts won’t hold you accountable for not disclosing problems that you didn’t know existed.
For example, let’s say that by the time you sold your house, it was actually infested by termites. When you lived in the house, you never saw a termite and your previous home inspection reports did not find termites either. In this scenario, you won’t be held responsible for failing to disclose a termite infestation, even if it is discovered by your buyer a few weeks after closing.
So when it comes to property disclosure, what you don’t know won’t hurt you. If, however, you are being asked about information you are not certain about, don’t guess. If you guess and you end up being wrong, you could be sued for giving the wrong information.
For example, your buyer might ask you about the measurements of the property. If you have never had an appraiser check out your home, then you don’t have actual evidence of the measurements of your property. So if you are asked about it, resist the temptation to give an estimate, because your buyer might come back and accuse you of lying about it.
If you are really uncertain about certain facts about your home, just tell the truth and say that you don’t know. This way, it’s up to your buyer to exercise due diligence and find out the answer.
With these three basic rules, you will avoid any legal issues that may arise in the home selling process. If, however, you know that your home has too many maintenance issues and you need to sell your home quickly, then contact Blue Hen Homebuyers. We buy houses in Jacksonville, NC – no matter what the condition! Call us at 910-802-2222 or fill out our simple web form and we will get back to you within 48 hours.