Are You Required to Disclose a Death in the Property to Tenants?

[Wes Blackwell]

I'm in negotiations for purchasing a property here in California that will be a rental property. Turns out there was an extremely violent death in the property a year ago.  Seriously violent. Like the plot of a horror movie kind of violent. Made the news and everything.

I know that the seller needs to disclose this, and we will need to disclose it if we choose to sell it within 3 years (which we don't plan on). 

BUT -- do we need to disclose the death to potential tenants? And if so, how much detail do we have to give?

I'm leaning moreso on the side of "disclose everything rather than regret it later" but wanted to see if someone could give me a more concrete answer, as this will surely affect the desirability when looking for tenants until it no longer needs to be disclosed.

As for the property, the place was set on fire after the murder, so the sellers just spent $250k to completely renovate. The energy / vibe of the place has totally changed.

Obviously, we'll use this as a negotiation tool, but we just wanted to see how this may affect us when looking for tenants.

[Matt K.]

With how easy it is to google... I probably would mention someone died but not sure how much past that. If you get someone who knows upfront and is ok with it... then you'd in theory reduce turn over/vacancy. 

http://www.diedinhouse.com/