Video Summary
What can I do if a seller fails to disclose a defect in the home that I’m purchasing? Under our Florida law, the seller is required to disclose any facts that may materially affect the value of the property that are not readily observable. This is called a latent defect, and that’s what the Florida Supreme Court found as what they call a tort, and that is the responsibility of a seller to disclose that only on residential transactions, not on commercial transactions. In addition, the standard contract that is used for residential transactions, which has been approved by the Florida Bar and also the Board of Realtors, it provides in here that you are required to disclose any matters that may material affect the value of the property that are not readily observable. In addition to that, the many times the realtors have a seller filled out a seller disclosure form, which is a questionnaire as far as that’s concerned.
So if they failed to disclose that, well, that would be what they call affirmative fraud. So there are three avenues which you could pursue if a seller failed to disclose a defect is one under tort law, which is the case law in Florida. Two is the contract which reprise, and three is if it was not disclosed on the form, your remedy is to ask that the residential illustrate transaction be set aside and you get your money back and you give ’em back the property you have one year from the date of closing to do that. Otherwise, there’s a four year statute of limitations as far as being able to bring this action from the time you discover this defect, one of the big components that you have to prove is the seller knew of the defect. And so just because there’s a defect, if it wasn’t something that you could show the seller knew about, well they came very well, disclose something that they didn’t know. Also what must they disclose. There’s any sorts of things other than just the particular property itself as far as the physical aspects of it as to whether what has to be disclosed. So if you have any questions about this, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.