[troutman]

Stigmatized real estate listings


http://www.montrealgazette.com/busin...557/story.html

Debate over disclosure rules on everything from the sale of renovated former grow-ops, to houses that were the scene of violent deaths or suicides, has erupted in several Canadian provinces, pitting protection for buyers against sellers’ rights to command a fair price for their properties.

In 2006, a Quebec court ruled that former NHL great Marcel Dionne didn’t have to disclose that his son committed suicide in the basement of the St-Constant home he’d sold to buyer Sylvie Knight three years earlier. Yet today, sellers are required by Quebec’s real estate watchdog, the OACIQ, to declare not just murders and suicides, but to reveal whether any deaths have occurred in the house at all when they answer the form’s question that asks for the disclosure of “any other factors” related to the value of the home.

http://www.realestatelawyers.ca/disclosure.php

STIGMATIZED PROPERTY DISCLOSURE

Is the seller obligated to disclose if there has been a murder, suicide or ghosts in the property?

NO. There is no "law" in Ontario that requires the seller to provide disclosure of a murder, suicide or ghosts in a property.

However, Realtors are governed by RECO and their local real estate boards which have rules and regulations regarding disclosure and require Real Estate Agents to disclose any material facts that affect the market value of the property. Therefore, if a Real Estate Agent has knowledge of an event such as a murder they are required to disclose such information to the purchaser (in most cases - depending on how long ago the event took place). Real Estate Agents must be careful to avoid misrepresentations, error and concealment of facts.