How much do you have to divulge?

skysky69

When selling a house, how honest do you have to be (hypothetically speaking of course ). If for instance, one lived in a road name that made reference to a Marsh and one was selling a house, if the garden was to get quite water logged in heavy rainfall do I have to tell people that when they are viewing the house. We were never told when we purchased the house 2 years ago.

The reason for my asking is that I know you have to tell about any neighbour disputes that you might have etc. Just wondering how much you have to tell people. I don't think I have ever bought a house where somebody told me before I bought it if there were any little niggling problems, I have had to find out for myself.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

tanith

To be honest I wouldn't point out any problems but then again I would probabely attempt to fix any BIG problems before selling , but I certainly wouldn't tell people about the soggy lawn or the neighbour who lights fires , or the noisy kids or dogs .... I am afraid it goes with the territory of house buying you need to go look at all times of the day and night and figure out any problems before you buy....

Badger_Lady

It depends on what the conveyancer asks - you have to answer their questions truthfully, but they're unlikely to ask about soggy gardens. If they got into that much detail, their forms would be 300 pages long!

As to disclosing during a viewing - well, no-one has to do this but, if it's likely to come up later down the line and jeopardise a sale, it might be better to get it out of the way first. Again, this won't include soggy gardens.

Estate Agent guidelines: point out the benefits, wash over any niggles (unless the viewers directly ask)... by the time your buyer finds out, they will have made an emotional investment (maybe even a financial one) and will let it go.

pinkshoes

I suppose should someone ask the question "Does the garden get waterlogged when it rains?" during a viewing, then you should be honest, but so long as the waterlogging doesn't cause the house to flood (and given the amount of rain at the end of July, this would be known by now), then I don't think one would have to divulge that. Maybe selling during a season where rain is less often would be beneficial...