Murder house.. as rental...thoughts..?

Question

Wondering your thoughts about buying a house where there was a murder suicide in?

It was happened two years ago..

I know it would have to be disclosed to the tenants ( California)

Would you buy it?

Any thoughts?

Its in a pretty decent neighbor. I found the news story online. It was a young couple.

Lynnette E. · Answer

I think that it is common to say 'undisclosed illness', which is also used if you do not want to say heart failure or whatever.  A lot of people do not say exactly what the person died from.  With the 2 houses I sold with a death that is what I used, but one was pancreatic cancer, the other congestive heart failure.  That was not the buyer's or neighbor's business.

I think that specifying HIV/AIDs in the law goes back historically to a time when people thought that they would get a deadly, non-curable disease from just being around someone with that disease.

Ray Harrell · Answer

People always die in houses. Why do you have to disclose that? Is it priced to sell?

Lynnette E. · Answer

There actually are many illnesses and health issues that lead to death are considered a disability.  They were not singled out in the law because the same stigma was not attached to those diseases at the time the law was written as there was to HIV/AIDS.

You have to remember this law goes back to a time when people were protesting having a HIV+ child in their kid's school, on their sports team, etc. HIV+ was associated with homosexual men, and gay rights were not even talked about back then.  Life has changed a lot since this law was passed, but in those dark ages, people would not buy a house if the person was known to have had AIDS.   They would not associate with the person when the person was alive, if they knew.  It was a disease people feared, and it was still a disease that people were afraid of getting through casual contact, sweat from shaking hands, toilet seats, blood from a kid's skinned knee being' in the air', tears, etc.

If they rewrote the law today, I don't think they would have added that sentence.

Lynnette E. · Answer

CA is a special place.  CA requires the disclosure of a death in a house for a certain period of time, 3 years from the date of death.

If the area has a high Asian population it may impact your ability to rent the house.  If the population is not highly Asian, go ahead and buy it!

Part of the reason for the disclosure is that some religions believe that the spirit of the person can become trapped in the house if one dies in the house.  People following this religion place their dying folks outside.  They die in the yard.  Their spirit goes where it wants.

I sold 2 homes where the elderly people passed in the house using hospice care.  It was what they wanted.  The realtors, in both cases, wrote that a death occurred in the house into the realtor's comments in the MLS because of the great likelihood that Asian buyers would not want to buy the houses and we did not need to waste our time showing it to have them back out when they saw the disclosures.

Greg M. · Answer

I think that specifying HIV/AIDs in the law goes back historically to a time when people thought that they would get a deadly, non-curable disease from just being around someone with that disease.

Since HIV is considered a disability under the ADA, apparently disclosure of someone's death due to this cause is considered discriminatory.

Jon A. · Answer

So, then one could deduce that if someone died in the home but the manner in which they died is not disclosed , then that would mean they died from HIV or AIDS related condition? I still don't understand why it has to be disclosed at all in the first place. Any way , 3 years would fly by and it would not deter me from buying it at all if the numbers worked and I thought it was a good deal.

Kathy Johnson · Answer

Under California law, if a tenant dies in the rental property, you must disclose the fact of the death and the manner of death to any prospective renter or purchaser for three years, from the date of the tenant's death.  But, if they died from AIDS or HIV related condition, you are prohibited from disclosing the cause of death.

Lynnette E. · Answer

AGREED.  I moved out of that state. That law was written in 1987.

Dennis M. · Answer

That is one insane policy among many . AIDS is preventable ,but death is not . How unfortunate to invest that backwards  state

Thomas Dougherty · Answer

According to California law, if the lessee is in the lease of the death attribute, it must disclose the fact that the death and the way to death for any potential tenant or purchase for three years, from the date of the tenant's death.

Murder house.. as rental...thoughts..?

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