Seller Disclosure Laws
The seller disclosure laws vary from state to state but lets take a look at California real estate disclosure laws for example. In California every property transaction needs a natural hazard disclosure report and a CLUE report. The NHD or “natural hazard disclosure” statement form provides the new home buyer with critical information about the hazard zone vulnerability of a property. Here is the caveat about the seller disclosure laws in this case.
The Natural Hazard Disclosure Law in California Real Estate
The NHD is a state government California mandated initiative that has been a civil code law for over 30 years. Here is the issue, if the seller gets an NHD report from a “basic PDF downloadable NHD company” there may be dependencies in the seller disclosure laws that can lead to a lawsuit.
How is this so, and how is a sellers disclosure at risk if they have provided the basic mandatory NHD requirements? The clauses in the civil code natural hazard disclosure laws are basically ” earthquake hazard zones” flood and fire hazard zones” and a few other “zoning hazards”. This leaves a wide variety of other natural and man made hazards that the new buyer can find in an “extensively informational NHD statement”. The sellers disclosure in a “full fledged NHD report” leaves no question as to the seller “holding back any property information” .
In the most common sense terms, getting a low cost natural hazard zone report can mean possible legal issues in the future. Getting a “higher cost” NHD (which typically means spending about $30) is one form of protection against seller disclosure lawsuits coming your way.
Property Reports CLUE, Home Inspections
In general terms outside of California and pertaining to most real estate transactions nationwide both the seller and the buyer need to address the issue of disclosing any issues in the house before the purchase. I have read articles where families are now living in houses that were former meth labs exposing their children to potential safety hazards. The CLUE report will tell you of any structural changes, code violations and other issues pertaining to the actual property, whereas the NHD covers the surrounding area also. The home inspection is done by an independent source, but as a buyer, you need to make sure everything (and everyone) is on the up and up. If you are in the position where you bought a home and were not disclosed certain information you may have a case, talk to a real estate attorney on a consultation basis to get detailed information.
Make no mistake any realtors, brokers, companies selling houses or owner sellers that do not disclose this type of information can be looking at hefty fines, class action lawsuits or worse. If not now, it is just a question of time before these sellers get served with court papers. Many many attorneys offices and corporate legal advisers are gearing up for a nationwide program to bring the hammer down on obfuscation of property information leading to litigation in seller disclosure laws.