Carrying out adequate checks before committing is crucial to the success of any residential real estate purchase. Yet, New York is not the wild west, and the laws do not place all the onus on you as a buyer.
New York state law requires sellers to disclose certain information about a property to ensure you are not buying blind. If a seller fails to disclose information they know about, you may be able to take legal action despite having completed the purchase.
Sellers know that faults with a property may put off buyers, so they may try to cover them up. For example, some clever plastering and a lick of paint can disguise a crack in the wall. Filling the crack in and repainting is fine, as long as the seller tells you it exists. Yet, not all problems are physical or environmental.
Does a seller need to disclose if a property is haunted?
The prospect of living in a haunted house might appeal to you, or it might make you run a mile. Unlike most states, New York buyers need to disclose any paranormal activity they know of, after a past case where a buyer took a seller to court and got the sale retracted due to the seller’s failure to disclose the property’s ghostly reputation.
Does a seller need to disclose a death in the house?
Sellers do not need to tell you if someone has died on the property. If you are worried a property might have an unpleasant history, try putting the address into search engines and see if you discover anything. Consider it one of the many checks you should do to ensure you have as much information as possible before deciding whether to proceed with the real estate purchase.