House of horror

The house where Sef Gonzales killed his parents and sister was recently sold to an asian couple. When they found out about the history of the house, they refused to go through with the transcation and eventually were able to get out of the deal.

This is a post which I put on my UTS discussion board topic: Is there a duty on the vendor (seller) to legally disclose the history of the house? My response is below.

I agree that legally the agent did not have to disclose. But ethically they should have. I just think that's the right thing to do. If the agent was in the purchaser's shoes, I'm sure they want to know as well. Personally, I would not live in the "house of horrors".

Although you claim that the purchaser should have heard gossip about it/read the news, I think the average person would know that Sef Gonzales committed a murder in his house, but no one would know what the actual address was. Furthermore, I don't think it's likely you would ask prospective neighbours "was a violent triple murder committed next door?".

On a comparative note, in America, there is a duty to disclose the 50 year history of the house. Perhaps something similar should be instituted here. The agent could have said "do you know the history of this house?".

But one of the main reasons why the couple wanted to back out of the deal, was because they were chinese and held strong buddhist beliefs. They believed that the feng shui of the house was bad and that there were evil spirits there. I think that the agent should have been more culturally aware of these issues. I'm not saying that entitles them to cancel the transcation, but should have been a factor for the agent to disclose the history of the house.

That's my two cents, what does everyone else think?