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When selling a home in the US, owners must disclose property taxes, mold, and haunted houses. Landlords must also notify buyers of any deaths within a certain timeframe. Failure to disclose could result in a lawsuit, as in the case of Stambovsky v. Ackley. Possible reasons for haunted house beliefs include confirmation bias and homicides or suicides can decrease a home’s value.
When selling a home in the United States, the owner is required by law to disclose certain types of information about it, including property taxes on it, mold or dry rot issues. In the case of haunted houses, the seller may need to tell the owner about the ghost. While laws vary by region, many places have statutes that require landlords to notify prospective buyers of any deaths that have occurred in the home or property within a certain time frame, or if the buyer inquires about any deaths. If the landlord does not disclose this information to the prospective buyer, he could be open to a lawsuit.
Read more about haunted houses:
At least one US seller has been successfully sued (Stambovsky v. Ackley) for failing to disclose the fact that his house was haunted. Helen Ackley sold her house to Jeffrey Stambovsky without telling him that she was haunted, despite her having previously publicized the fact by giving newspaper interviews about the house and including it on a paranormal walking tour. Stambovsky sued for fraudulent misrepresentation and was able to terminate the contract and get his down payment back.
Possible reasons people might think a house is haunted include squeaky floorboards, drafts, carbon monoxide leaks, and a psychological phenomenon called confirmation bias, where people see ghosts because they expect that they are there.
Homes where homicides or suicides have occurred generally take longer to sell than others and sell for less.
