Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California
Non Disclosure of Special Use permit Application
We recently purchased a SF home zoned RE-5 4 weeks after close it came to our attention thru neighbors that an adjoining parcel which we all surround had applied for a special use permit to build a large meeting facility with 200+parking lot whithin 500ft of our front door.The previous owner who had the home as a rental claims he never knew of the application but it has been confirmed with the county that at lease 2 notices for hearings went out to all property owners within 500ft of the parcel line and we share a parcel line, also that the mailing address the assesors office has on file was used for mailing. What are our recourses? We never would of purchased the property if we had known that this was going to happen or that we would have to hire attornies to protect our interests as property owners. We need advise on what the previous owners responsibility is and if he has some negligence what do we ask him for.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Non Disclosure of Special Use permit Application
Ubject to some further investigation of the facts, I would say there is a strong possibility of fraudulent failure to disclose on the part of the seller; that the seller's broker is liable for failure to investigate and disclose in violation of statute (Civil Code sections 2079 et. seq.), and perhaps a breach of common-law fiduciary duty to use utmost care and skill on the part of your agent and broker (if any).
Step One is to review your purchase agreement and refresh your memory on whether the contract calls for mediation, arbitration, both, or neither. Next, look and see whether there is an attorney-fee clause, providing that a prevailing party may recover its attorney fees from the other party in a dispute.
Then, think about whether your preferred remedy would be to rescind the sale or money damages.
The final step would be to locate and retain a real-estate attorney with some prior experience representing buyers in failure-to-disclose cases against sellers and brokers.
Related Questions & Answers
Looking for something else?
10,200 active attorneys ready to answer your legal questions today.
Featured Attorneys
Earn additional revenue and grow your business.
