Ok, long story short. I bought a condo in Queen Anne 2004. The seller checked “NO” to this question on the Seller Disclosure Statement. 1g. “Are there any pending or existing assessments against the propety.”

In the Resale Certificate it states there is a pending lawsuit against the builder for defects and “Additional funds will come from a Special Assessment.”

I did not see these documents until after I moved in. 2 months later I was billed $1,678.71. I am serving the Owner who has moved out of state with small claims papers.

I had an appraiser call me the other night, after 9 p.m. on a Sunday I might add. He asked me what I wanted him to put on the appraisal, owner occupied or tenant occupied!?!? I said “The truth usually works well enough for me.”

There is too much paper and not enough real honesty and disclosure. The only one I find “iffy” is about neighborhood noise. Some states have that and some don’t. There’s a tot lot about two blocks from me. I happen to like hearing happy kids playing. Is that a “disclosure” in Washington State? How about the kids that are having a tantrum about not wanting to go home that DO annoy me? Most of the time the place is empty. How many tantrums equals a disclosure? How about dogs barking five doors away? Where do you draw the line?

“Except as provided in RCW 64.06.050, nothing in this chapter shall extinguish or impair any rights or remedies of a buyer of real estate against the seller or against any agent acting for the seller otherwise existing pursuant to common law, statute, or contract; nor shall anything in this chapter create any new right or remedy for a buyer of residential real property other than the right of recision exercised on the basis and within the time limits provided in this chapter.”

So what does this mean? The buyer’s rights under the Wash. Seller Disclosure law end at closing. If seller fails to provide the form and the buyer elects (knowingly or unknowingly) to close without receiving the form, buyer has no recourse against the seller directly resulting from the failure to provide the form. This does not mean that buyer gives up any rights under tort or contract law to go back against the seller for misrep or breach of warranties or against their agent who may not have advised them about the form.

-Russ

Ask Russ how difficult it is to argue and prove “lack of disclosure” That’s why the Disclosure form was invented. It’s in writing. So it make perfect sense to avoid the writing and just pay the 500 esp if you have a sump pump to hide

Im not saying this loophole is available everywhere but where it is IT IS USED & those that know about it will corroborate what I’m saying.

Generally it works in reverse, Russ. I have the expertise and first hand knowledge that the lady is calling a toilet a sump pump. So I tell the buyer on the spot and the buyer’s agent NOT to rely on her representations right there and then and NOT where she can hear me. She was a very proud and very elderly woman.

The next day (because no lawyers were around on Sunday), I went to the estate attorney and had him draft an appropriate document. It was not an addendum, because neither I nor the attorney wanted her to see it. It would have upset her terribly.

The buyer signed it and the seller never saw it. I’d rather buy the guy a sump pump than argue with her and make her feel stupid.

Right before closing she told me she forgot about a curtain she wanted to keep. It was the first curtain she bought for the house with her now deceased daughter. She couldn’t part with it. I called the buyer’s agent and he said the buyer said the agreement says he gets it. Creep. I told her to take it. I told her to take it down and pack it right now. She said won’t you get in trouble. I said don’t worry about it, I’ll buy him a new curtain and put it there, he probably won’t know the difference. And he didn’t.

Isn’t every agent’s expertise different? Granted, many agents would not know whether or not she had a sump pump. Maybe they wouldn’t have looked. But I knew the minute she said it that she didn’t have a sump pump. Glad I made her point to the toilet so the buyer could see what HER sump pump looked like

Just a general comment here but I would strongly advise any agent to refer their seller to a competent RE atty before “disallowing” them to complete a disclosure form. I hope also that the buyer’s inability to rely on reps by the seller was incorporated into the purchase and sale agreement and that provision was drafted by a lawyer so that the language was appropriate to protect the seller in case of a future dispute.

Remember, under our agency law, a seller’s agent MUST advise the seller to “seek expert advice on matters relating to the transaction that are beyond the agent’s expertise.” IMHO, no court in the land would conclude that such actions were within the expertise of a real estate licensee.

-Russ

The seller is still responsible for lack of disclosure regardless. That said I have had times when I would not let the seller provide a Seller Disclosure Form and told the buyer they could not rely on the seller’s representations.

I once had a seller client whose husband had just died and she insisted she knew things she did not. She kept calling the toilet a sump pump. The buyer asked “Do you have a sump pump?” and she said yes. Luckily I was there. I said can you show it to me? She looked at me like I was stupid and brought me to the toilet. LOL

In her defense it was a below grade toilet operated by a hydraulic pump to pump up to the main sewer line. She must have heard her husband mention the word pump when it was installed.

No Seller Disclosure Form for her! LOL