Is That House Haunted?

DEFECT

When selling a home, known physical defects must be disclosed by the listing agent. To give buyers confidence in the property the are purchasing, a home inspection is regularly ordered to ensure that there are no other physical defects unknown to all parties.

DISCLOSURE

There is no requirement for the listing agent to disclose stigmas unless they are expressly made aware of them by the seller. Stigmas are difficult to track and few people want to admit that there may be something negative associated with the property they are trying to sell.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Check out Housecreep.com and search the address. This website is a database that compiles news stories and first hand personal accounts by address. While it largely relies on users to upload information on addresses, you may find the information that you are looking for.

If a death in the home is an absolute deal breaker for you for either cultural or personal reasons, you could also consider adding a clause to the Agreement of Purchase and Sale that states that the vendors would have to declare to the best of their knowledge that no death has occurred in the home. The only problem with this is that if the owners are not the original owners, they may not even be aware of the property’s history.

WHY DOES STIGMA MATTER?

For some people, these non-physical and intangible attributes may elicit a psychological or emotional response. Some people believe that if something terrible happened in a space, that the physical objects present in the space may have absorbed some of that negative energy.