[eddly]

Are you required to disclose that there was a suicide in the house you are selling?

I just got a call from my parents. They thought they had sold their house in Nanaimo British Columbia, but the buyer is now saying that they would have never placed an offer on the house had they known prior that there was a suicide in the house.

The suicide occurred in 2001, my parents bought the house in 2002. They knew about the suicide but that didn't sway their decision to buy the house. The wife of the seller killed herself, with her dog, by carbon monoxide poisoning while in her car in the garage.

My parent's house in Nanaimo had already passed the home inspection, everything was complete and signed. Possession transfer was schedule for the end of November.

Meanwhile, my parents completed a purchase of a house in Airdrie which possession is set to transfer at the end of November as well. All legal work completed.

The "buyer" of my parent's house in Nanaimo now thinks they have legal grounds to walk from the deal and that they can get their deposit back. This would leave my parents with two houses as they can't walk from the Airdrie house.

Just talked to my Dad again and he said his realtor told him that he felt that they didn't have to disclose it (back when they first listed it).

Even if the buyer ends up losing the deposit, it still leaves my parents in a pretty bad spot. I'm going to do some more research on this, but perhaps someone here has some knowledge in terms of disclosure requirements for this situation. If it had just happened I can see how it should be disclosed, but 12 years later? It still needs to be disclosed?