When someone is selling a house in Washington, they must make certain disclosures available to a potential buyer. In general, they are required to disclose material facts.
But what does this mean? It generally means that if a person has knowledge of defects or issues with the house, they must make that knowledge known to the buyer. Some examples include:
- Electrical circuits or components that no longer work
- Serious issues with the septic or plumbing system
- The existence of mold or significant damage from pests
- A roof that is known to be leaking and causing water damage inside the house
Essentially, if there’s a major problem—especially one that needs to be rectified and could be expensive to fix—sellers must disclose these issues.
What are sellers not obligated to disclose?
Typically, a seller doesn’t have to talk about anything that is not a defect or a material fact relating to the physical property. For instance, if a crime or a death occurred in the house, they don’t have to tell the buyer. While buyers may be interested in these types of facts, they don’t actually have any physical impact on the property itself.
Moreover, sellers are not obligated to disclose things they genuinely don’t know. For example, an elderly homeowner might technically have water damage in their attic from a leaking roof, but if they haven’t gone up into their attic in a decade, they may have no idea that the leak exists.
This can get a bit complex. A buyer may discover a defect and claim it should have been disclosed before the sale, while the seller may insist they honestly didn’t know about the issue and had nothing to disclose. When conflicts like this arise, it’s important for those involved to understand what legal steps to take.