Hypothetical question: What does a seller need to disclose about an HIV-positive, meth-cooking (and using) criminal who murdered their spouse in the house, committed suicide in the house, and then haunts the house the seller wants to sell?
The answer? Nothing. The seller doesn’t legally have to disclose anything, though it may be a good idea to disclose anyway.
So, how much must sellers disclose? Material facts, or pieces of information about the home that would affect the purchase price (leaky roof, water damage, etc), must be disclosed. But there’s another category of “negative” information that isn’t a defect in the roof or floor, etc. This information is termed “stigmatized” in Utah State Code.
In Utah Law (§57-1-1-4) there are three broad classes of “stigmatized” property:
- Murder, suicide, or other felony
- HIV (or another disease you can’t catch from residing in a home)
- Contaminated (i.e. meth, etc) and declared decontaminated by the health department
In general, a stigmatized property is psychologically impacted, so even a “haunted” house would qualify as stigmatized.
Sellers don’t have to volunteer information about the issue. But, If a buyer requests information about any of these items, the seller IS OBLIGED to answer the question to the extent of their knowledge.
In the interest of good business and fair dealing, however, it may be wise to disclose information anyway. Because home buying is an emotional, big-ticket purchase; buyers are more likely to seek a legal remedy (a lawsuit) if they feel something was hidden from them.
For reference, I’m making available this handy Seller’s Property Condition Disclosure (SPCD) document (128k PDF).