I understand that we are not to disclose/mention things like if there are child predators in a neighborhood, or if there is somone with AIDS who currently lives in the home one is selling,etc.


What I want to know is, when I am sitting with my client and they are about to sign the agency agreement with me, is it better to wait until they bring up such questions to let them know I am not permitted by law to mention/inform of such issues, or could I present a list or tell them right there before signing the agreement: "Mr. and Mrs. homebuyer, as your agent before you sign this agreement with me, I must let you know that by law, I am not allowed to disclose*insert various here* due to the Federal and *insert state here* Fair housing laws.


Which would be better, up front knowledge or simply waiting until such a question comes up?

"MEGAN’S LAW. If the presence of a registered sex offender is a matter of concern to Buyer, Buyer understands that Buyer must contact local law enforcement officials regarding obtaining such information.

Broker has no duty to conduct an independent inspection of the Property for the benefit of Buyer and has no duty to independently verify the accuracy or completeness of statements made by a seller or independent inspectors. Broker has no duty to conduct an independent investigation of Buyer's financial condition or to verify the accuracy or completeness of any statement made by Buyer."

We have several disclosures such as above in our buyer agency/transaction broker agreement.
You might have a list of telephone #'s and websites that a buyer can access for their own research. Information and data changes all the time and that is probably the best way to get up to date info.

But my question was, can we state at that time when we are about to have them sign the agency agreement what we can and cannot disclose to them,rather than wait for them to bring it up...

I rarely try to provoke these kind of questions but openly and as completely as possible answer them if they come up.

"But my question was, can we state at that time when we are about to have them sign the agency agreement what we can and cannot disclose to them,rather than wait for them to bring it up... "

If you feel it's necessary, as I said, why not have a list of contacts information to give to them. It can encompass info. from schools to hospitals to shopping malls. It can all be part of your interviewing/relo package, and if questions come up, just refer to the package they have in their hand.
You can tell them all day long that you don't know and can't legally talk about where sex offenders live due to liability issues, why would they not understand that?

thanks

This is the broker's decision, and whether you have an affirmative duty under state law to make such disclosures. If you are not required to make such disclosures, it is a matter of choice.

MrsSea you don't want to get into those kind of conversations unless and until you're asked. If asked respond honestly and accurately but not until asked.

Its like sending the local field office of the IRS an invitation to audit your 2007 tax return. Do you really want to get into that conversation if you don't have to. The expectation is that you pay your times on time and not a bit more than your uncle in entitled to. That said, no one should offer Uncle Sam her money before asked. Same with the issues you raise, not until asked should you engage.

We here in IN use zip forms for any contract and part of our purchase agreement we have added lines to the contract under Miscellaneous to inform the buyer of the existence of the sex offender registry and that the Real Estate broker is not responsible for providing or verifying this information.

in CA, you have to disclose what you know and that which is material to the transaction.

When working with Buyers it is always a good idea to get them to commit/sign a Buyer's Broker agreement. Don't invent trouble for yourself and give thema list of things that are not relevant. Don't concern yourself with what you perceive they may thing they are entitled to know, that the Federal Government prohibits you from disclosing. If you feel uncomfortable telling them that you may not answer a question such as "The Seller is obviously Gay and he looks very sick, do you know if he has aids?" Don't get into a conversation with your Buyer on the topic, simply explain to them that it is against Federal Law to disclose certain things due to protected classes. Whether or not a person is HIV+ or has aids is one of the things tha would place a person in a protected class and you may not disclose and therefore you cannot discuss with them. I always tell Buyers that the presence of registered sex offenders is tracked by the County Sheriff and if they need that information they (not you) may obtain that information from the Sheriff.

That is very interesting to hear about Federal Fair housing laws as, to the best of my knowledge, we do not have the same thing in Canada.

By law, and according to the Real Estate Council of BC, a Buyer's agent is acting on behalf of their client in a fiduciary capacity and is therefore obligated to, under Agency, disclose any and all information known by him to his clients which pertains to ANYTHING about the property the agent may learn, whether the agent believes it is relevant or not, so long as that information was not obtained while in an Agency relationship with someone else .

So in other words if I listed a house and learned from the Seller that they were getting divorced in a year and the listing expired. Then a year from now when they try and sell again with someone else and this time I am representing the Buyer on that property I cannot disclose to my buyers that they are getting divorced as I obtained that information while under agency with the Sellers the year before.

However, if lets say a listing realtor called me after I showed their place and said “oh man this one is a tough one to sell cause the owner has HIV and is Gay” then I MUST disclose that to my buyers!!

When in doubt we must disclose. It is only the Listing Agent (the one representing the Seller) that might not disclose such information so long as it is not considered a 'material latent defect' (defined bellow)

Our laws seem to be geared more towards the protection of the Buyer's position rather than the Seller's profit.

Adding Two Cents Worth

Amazing, isn’t that so much of what the real estate agent is involved with in touches upon so many area's of the law, but that the primary focus of training and education has been on Sales Training and how to overcome objections of a consumer and to close a real estate transaction in the shortest period of time.

This training appears to have originally been shaped by the real estate brokers who founded organized real estate, because the brokerage firms wanted the new agents to hopefully, begin earning money for the brokerage firm and themselves as quickly as possible.

Initially. new agent were led (misled) to believe that legally everyone worked for the “Vendor”, who paid the commissions, but that in reality it was recognized that most agents worked first for themselves and secondly for their brokerage firm and lastly for their client the “Vendor”.

One might imagine that organized real estate would have utilized the advice of legal counsel, which would no doubt have advised them regarding the law of agency, which had been in existence for over three hundred years and it may be assumed that they chose to ignore that advise, having possibly determine that it was less complicated and more profitable to their members to ignore the law of agency.

It was only when organized real estate was forced by the courts to recognize the law of agency, that organized real estate started to implement some changes, and as usual the changes were hailed by the industry as benefiting the consumer, but in truth, the changes were implemented primarily to safeguard the agents from being sued.

Agents might be well advised to take it upon themselves to learn about the law involving both their occupation and the industry in order to protect the interests of their client’s and themselves.

Important Notice: This information is provided as basic educational information by the author and is not a substitute for the advice of an expert and/or the advice of a lawyer. There is NO representation as to legality, accuracy, correctness of the herein information and the reader is strongly urged to consult a lawyer in the relevant jurisdiction to ensure accuracy before acting on this information .