Suicide Notice Requirements

[Jeremy Hysell]

I am looking at purchasing a SFH rental where someone committed suicide in Ohio. I have 2 questions for you...

1. What are your thoughts on the ethics on providing notification to renters that a suicide occurred in the house?
2. What are the legal requirements in Ohio on providing notification to renters that a suicide occurred in the house?

[Joe Splitrock]

Murders and suicides are always seen as worse by future occupants, because of the "tormented soul" angle that leads to fear of bad karma or haunting. About half the states have laws that regulate disclosure of murders and suicides. 

Ohio has no laws, but there is court precedent that if latent defects are coupled with concealment or misrepresentation it voids caveat emptor and opens the seller to risk of fraud. Even if you are selling a house "as is", you still can't conceal or misrepresent. Courts in Ohio have considered the question whether phycological fear is a latent defect. This paper talks about a court case form 1993 that examined a situation where the sellers agent told the buyer that they seller moved out after her husband died of a heart attack. They later found out he committed suicide and sued the seller. The courts determined the seller did misrepresent, but determined death by heart attack or death by suicide were similar enough that it didn't materially affect the buyers decision. This ruling established that a death could impact a buyer and therefore is materially important information. 

The paper studies the effects on sales price and time on market when disclosing a death or serious crime. Murders and suicides have been shown to reduce property value and increase time of sale. In this study of 100 Ohio homes, it was determined it reduced selling price on average 3% and increased time on market by 45%. 

People get freaked out. Whether you believe in bad karma or ghosts is irrelevant. Perceived reality of your buyer or renter is all that really matters. 

https://www.researchgate.net/p...

Always check state disclosure laws. Even without disclosure requirement, it is still best practice is to disclose recent serious incidents. As others said, they will find out from the neighbors. You never want to lie or misrepresent something. Most disclosure is usually aimed at small time periods like 1 to 3 years or the immediate buyer after the incident. There is generally less concern over what happened 50 or 100 years ago, then what happened last month.