Murder in My House
December 19, 2008

Q: I discovered that a gruesome murder occurred in the house that I recently purchased. It makes me very uncomfortable and substantially diminishes the value of the house to me. Shouldn't someone have told me about this?

A: The short answer to your question is no. Maryland law generally requires a seller of single family residential real property to furnish either a “residential property condition disclosure statement” or a ”residential property disclaimer statement”. Both the disclosure statement and the disclaimer statement require the seller to disclose “latent defects”. However, the law specifically provides that it is not a material fact or a latent defect that (a) an owner or occupant of the property was infected with human immunodeficiency virus or diagnosed with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, or (b) that a homicide, suicide, accidental death, natural death, or felony occurred on the property. Therefore, the seller had no obligation to disclose to you that the house was the scene of a murder, no matter how notorious or gruesome.

If you have questions, please contact:
John Wise, Esquire

JWise@TandLLaw.com
(410) 752-2468