Question for others

Is it true that real estate agents have to disclose to potential customers if they have knowledge or reports from owners, or anyone that a house is haunted?

I have been told this many times, but not finding any links to actual rules set up that verify that...

I'm looking at a way for our group to get more places to investigate, and it seems to me that if this is true, it could be a very useful tool.

We could help the real estate agent by debunking the ones that are nothing, and at the same time , give evidence for the ones we cant debunk, which could in turn help sell a house..

and we get some great places to investigate..

But before i look like a fool and contact a few agents to field the idea and see what kind of a responce we would get, i want to see if it is actualy tru, or just a ongoing rumor that has been around for many many years.

Anyone know for sure?

I'm sure it's a rumor. Since there's never been any scientific proof of a haunting, I'm quite sure there wouldn't be any legal obligation to disclose an "assumption".

[Edit to add]

(note to self - stop answering questions with legal ramifications)

The exception here would be if the notion a house is haunted would be detrimental to the home's value. If a Realtor knows a home has the reputation of being haunted and fails to disclose it, that could potentially open a can of worms on resale value. Everyone thinks the house is haunted, someone from out of town comes in to buy it and isn't told, tries to sell it a year later and no takers... issue.

So you wouldn't be disclosing that a house is haunted, only that it has the reputation of being haunted. A fine line. Consult your attorney.

See, I'm sorry I started.

[edit on 7/27/2009 by yeahright]

Oh contraire OP! Unfortunately there is nothing in place that indicates that any property history need be disclosed. In addition, you will find that any information that could possibly be detrimental to the almighty sale will be supressed in most cases. At best, perhaps a nosey neighbor will pop up here and there to relay tales. I would suggest hitting the neighborhood pub for info! Most agents won't tell you anything, even if it's widely known.

There was a property in my area that a family member was looking into. Turns out the previous owner had killed his family, then himself. Legend has it that while the house was being built, it was used for satanic rituals and gatherings. I know this to be at least partially true as it was a hang out spot while we were in HS and indeed there were strange symbols and carvings all over the place during it's long construction.

Any how, the point is, that when my family member tried to confirm this info with the RE agent, he played dumb. It was later confirmed by public records that the murders & suicide did indeed take place......

I am pretty certain that such is not a legal requirement but some real-estate agents make a point to disclose when unnatural deaths occur.

When I moved into a Townhouse over a decade ago, the real-estate agent told me that 2 construction workers died in an accident while constructing the particular Townhouse I was planning on buying. I never even gave it a consideration when making my purchase.

However, years later strange things kept occurring and my daughter swore up and down that she kept seeing a "repairman" at her 2nd story window every once in a while, even though there would be no evidence of such whenever I looked. Also, I had to replace lightbulbs every 2 weeks in that Townhouse even though I had an electrician out a dozen times to test the circuits to make sure everything was fine.

When I sold the Townhouse 10 years later, a different real-estate agent told the woman who bought the Townhouse the same story. Apparently it didn't deter her either.

Doing some quick research I found that an owner (or his real-estate agent) has to disclose a death in the home if the death was caused by the condition of the house. That's about as close as the law comes to having to disclose potential conditions for a haunting.

well there goes that therory, although i may send a few inquiries just to see if anyone bites.. but all the research i have found shows about the same as previously posted, unless its physical to the house, discluser is not mandated..
We have some decent investigations lined up , but i was looking more twords winter... which for montana is not that far off...
realy limits us as to where we can investigate, its not uncommon for us to have snow by halloween, or sooner.. and we all know the effects of cold on cameras and equipment.. i was thinking if we could get the agents to help out, a heated empty house could be a good winters full of investigations.

Thanks for all the quick responces so far.

There are laws regarding this very issue in the US and they vary widely from state to state. The search you need to run for any area you're curious about is the law regarding "Stigmatized Property"

The Stigmatized Property law deals mostly in "Psychological" facts rather than "Material" facts of a haunting. Some states say that agents/owners can't be held liable for not disclosing such information and others say that they must be truthful if asked about it, other places still say that full disclosure up front is mandatory.


*edit to add*

It's not only "haunting" type events that are covered, but typically the law revolves around any type of unnatural death.

[edit on 28-7-2009 by MythMaster]

I honestly agree with one person on here has already stated that they are not required to divulge information on that as there is no scientific proof that hauntings actually occur. However I think that he or she was also right in stating it is presumed haunted if it affects the resale value of the property. I do know they are required to divulge any information on unnatural deaths especially homicide, especially if due to break ins or if the perpetrator was not found and/ or is released again as that may be detrimental to the buyers' interest. However if you state your case of being an investigator of the paranormal they may be open in sharing that information with you, depending on the agent. As some will think that it's poopoo and others will be or are curious to find out if it's true.