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Did you put that on the disclosure form? "Oh, we forgot."

Rarely do I have the opportunity to look at the Sellers' disclosure form, but in those occasional instances where I do, I resist reading them until after I've done my inspection. My notes for the following picture indicate that what is shown in the picture was not on the disclosure form.

Use stairs with caution

The stairs were in such bad shape that the sellers had blocked them from being used. I inquired why the stairs, then, were not on their disclosure form since I thought it was pretty obvious that the sellers knew about the problem and that such problem should be on the disclosure form. "Oh, we forgot."

Forgetting typically is not a valid excuse in a court of law, so if you're a Realtor having your Client fill out that darn disclosure form, really pick their brains about things because if they have ignored something for many weeks, months, or even years, sometimes it's not seen as a problem to them, even when it's so obvious.

Posted by Russel Ray, San Diego home inspector on 09/08/2008 05:56 AM

Comments (19)

Seller Disclosure in the ActiveRain Channel

stairs, home inspection

Post is included in group: Realtors®
Post is included in group: Inspection & Real Estate Nightmares

19 Comments on Did you put that on the disclosure form? "Oh, we forgot."

SEP

2008

Always in my explanation to my sellers---Disclose Disclose DISCLOSE!

Disclosure is very important to a buyer, sellers should be made to understand they can be held legally liable for damages well past the closing date, if something was a known factor and not disclosed on the Sellers Disclosure.. Caution all sellers as to the importance of this document, what they say or don't say can and will be held against them in a court of law. Your post is a good reminder, thanks.

I dont think that sellers realize they can be held liable for non disclosure of pertinent information regarding the sell of there home.

Wow! Looks like a "crime" scene to me :)

It LOOKS like it'd be a little hard to forget this!

One of the things we, as REALTORS® have to be very careful of is being too helpful regarding disclosures. The disclosure form in Maryland is three pages long and the seller should be the one filling it out in its entirety. In order to save time, many agents just ask the questions and are the ones actually filling out the disclosure form. This is a dangerous practice.

In your case I hope they didn't forget their lawyers telephone number.

Something like that is totally obvious that maybe it doesn't need disclosure. They are openly showing the defect and bringing attention to it. It would be different if they had tried to hide the defect. I think there's a term for conditions or information that can be identified by a normal person under normal conditions. Latent defects, those that a normal person couldn't reasonably know about by themselves, are the big deals when it comes to the courts.

I coach people to disclose any and all details. The more the better. Something like this creates a big question in a buyer's mind as to what unseen problems weren't disclosed.

Seller disclosure is vital, but then so is Buyer disclosure. If a Buyer does not truthfully or accurately disclosure information about themselves it will muck up the process.

Russel sometimes it is the case of the Realtor not doing their job as well as they should. There are some sellers that just don't know any better. ALL Realtors should know though!

When in doubt disclose! I would hope the sellers are planning on repairing the steps. It does leave it open as to what else the sellers may be hiding.

Richard (above), you are absolutely right about the agent filling out the disclosure form. It is a very dangerous practice and puts the liability on the agent.

Russel, maybe they thought it was just "art" and forgot to mention it as a selling point:)

Tim said:

That used to be true many years ago, but with people now buying things sight unseen over the Internet (and I've done many inspections for such people), they rely on both the transfer disclosure statement and, if they are lucky, a good home inspection. As the brokers here teach their agents:

"If it's visible, disclose it. If it's not visible, disclose it. When in doubt, disclose it."
"Buying and selling used to be about location, location, location. Now it's about disclosure, disclosure, disclosure."

Sellers just don't seem to realize that the disclosure form is for their protection.

So often we become accustomed to things in our every day life that are unacceptable when viewed as a disinterested third party. Whether it's an odor, a maintenance issue, or a full blown defect.

I wonder if the lawn chair in front of the stairs is in working condition - LOL - geez, that's reminds me of the sellers stating that the property never had pets, yet the MLS photo had a pet on it! ~Rita

SEP

2008

Russel

My experience is that problems are often covered up by "don't know." Even when they do know, they check that.

Hey, Steven. Unfortunately, I've heard some Realtors tell their Clients, "Just check 'Don't know'" and let the buyer's home inspector find anything that's wrong.

what was even wrong with the stairs? Am i missing it? they look normal to me....

chris the implementer

OCT

2008

Yikes - if that's what the stairs look like, what did the rest of the home look like?

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