Do real estate agents have to disclose a death in a house? What to know

When a real estate agent works with a prospective homebuyer, they’re required to point out physical or material defects in the property.

A death on the property? It depends on the state where the house is located. In most states, death doesn’t count as a material defect requiring disclosure.

Some homes are considered “stigmatized properties,” or dwellings that have been “psychologically impacted by a past or suspected event on the property, but has no physical impact of any kind,” according to the National Association of Realtors. 

Stigmatizing events include murder, suicide, alleged hauntings or a notorious previous owner, NAR noted. 

Among those that do, rules can be straightforward and explicitly require prior death to be disclosed to homebuyers. Even those rules may only apply to recent deaths or more stigmatizing events such as murder.

In California, for example, a seller must disclose if someone died in the house within the last three years.

Meanwhile, in Alaska, the listing agent must communicate if any known murders or suicides happened in the last year. South Dakota requires sellers to disclose deaths within the last 12 months.

Regulations will depend on the stigma in question. In New York, a seller doesn’t need to disclose if the house was the site of death or crime. But if a seller has made claims of paranormal activity in the home, they have to inform the buyer of supposed ghosts in the property, experts say.

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Often, it falls on the homebuyers to directly ask the agent about the property’s history. States such as Georgia do not require real estate agents or sellers to disclose upfront if the home was the site of a death. But they have to be truthful if a prospective buyer inquires.

Outside of what the disclosure laws are in a specific state, listing agents have a fiduciary responsibility to the sellers, said Harrison Beacher, a real estate agent and managing partner at Coalition Properties Group in Washington, D.C.

“If somebody asks me about it, I can point them towards empirical resources to get answers, but I’m not under any requirements to go into detail,” said Beacher.

Here’s what homebuyers should know about properties that have been stigmatized by murder, suicide, alleged hauntings or notorious prior owners, and how to find more detail about the home’s history.