Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Well... If the brokers knew of deaths, they had a duty to disclose. The brokers are not obligated to research beyond asking the word of the seller. A private party seller also has a duty to disclose if they knew or should have known. There is actually a pre-printed text about that on the DRE forms normally used in private party sales. However, you bought from a foreclosing lender, and bought 'as is', probably not using the normal forms. You are going to have a a problem establishing liability in the brokers or sellers. You'd have to be able to prove they knew, or should have known. 'Proof' is not the rumors and rather wild stories told by neighbors who might be falsely playing up to your fears. Proof is by documenting actual deaths in the house through public records, and then demonstrating that the sellers and brokers actually learned of them. If you think you can do so, feel free to contact me if serious about pursuing this.

You could live on the Moon. No one has yet died on the Moon. All of the astronauts returned alive. As for this planet, there have been deaths here since life first arose 3.4 billion years ago.

The selling agent probably did not breach any duty owed to you. If you had used a buyer's agent and had expressed the same concerns, your agent would then have had an obligation to you to do some digging, er, investigating, to learn the facts. A seller's agent's duty to a buyer is to avoid intentional and negligent misrepresentation of facts materially affecting the market value of a property.

I disagree with the other attorneys. There may not have been a duty to discover or disclose the deaths, since the agent was the banks agent, not yours, and the selling agents only are obligated to do a basic visual inspection and disclose what they see and what the seller tells them. In what you describe, however, the agent specifically said there were no deaths when specifically asked. That is not a non-disclosure case. That is a negligent misrepresentation case, at least, and a full blown fraud case possibly.