California has very extensive disclosure requirements for residential sales which are of great benefit to the buyer. They are a very good blue print for what kinds of issues need to be disclosed, which is of great benefit for the seller. However, when you’re in charge of selling a home that’s in probate the personal representative for the estate is not required to give some of the California mandated disclosures to the buyer.
The disclosures that are not provided by the personal representative include: The Transfer Disclosure Statement, The Seller’s Questionnaire, Earthquake Hazard Booklet, Earthquake Hazard Questionnaire, the signature on the Natural Hazard Disclosure but the report needs to be provided, and Smoke Detector Compliance. The personal representative of the estate is not exempt from Lead Based Disclosure, Data Base Disclosure (Megan’s Law), Water Heater Disclosure and strapping, and disclosing anything that is personally known by the representative.
The anything that is known is the big one. It is probably better to do this on a separate addendum rather than just answer a few of the questions on the seller’s disclosure forms. So if you ever lived in the house or spent time there and know something, disclose it. It is so much easier to disclose before the sale, than after in front of an arbitrator or judge. The estate will thank you!
Marcy Moyer
Keller Williams Realty
650-619-9285
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*photo courtesy of Housing Information
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