Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California
selling home / neighbor issue
We recently sold our downstairs condo unit and on the disclosures form, we stated that we have no known nuisances. We did have a problem with our upstairs neighbor a few months ago when he got a new roommate. The roommate would idle his extremely loud vehicle and screech tires when he parked each night, at very late hours (1 or 2 in the morning.) They also played their TV late at night. Once we complained to the HOA (and I talked to the neighbor as well), the idling and screeching stopped and it seems as though the TV is quieter as well. So my problem was that I did not want to inform our buyer of this because it seems to be rectified. Was I supposed to anyway? Also, this may show up in our HOA minutes as it was discussed at a homeowners meeting. It seems to me that the TV complaint is not a nuisance because the walls here are so thin, you can sometimes hear people talking in a normal voice if it is really quiet.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: selling home / neighbor issue
Why are you asking the question now -- has the buyer sued or threatened to sue?
If a lawyer or real estate agent were advising you before the sale, the correct advice would be to disclose the earlier problem and add that you think the problem is solved (at least in part).
A lawyer representing you in defense of a lawsuit brought by the buyer would, of course, argue differently. He or she would argue that you reasonably believed that the problem no longer existed and therefore there was no fraud or deception in the alleged failure to disclose the former noise problem.
Who will win? Hard to say. Probably depends upon the quality of evidence and credibility of the witnesses on each side.
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