{"id":14333,"date":"2017-10-16T01:00:36","date_gmt":"2017-10-15T14:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.realestatetalk.com.au\/?p=14333"},"modified":"2017-10-16T01:00:36","modified_gmt":"2017-10-15T14:00:36","slug":"buyer-beware-jeremy-streten","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/channels.realty.com.au\/realtytalk\/buyer-beware-jeremy-streten\/","title":{"rendered":"Buyer beware \u2013\u00a0Jeremy Streten"},"content":{"rendered":"

We ask a solicitor \u201cWhat sellers have to tell you when buying a property\u201d.\u00a0 Solicitor Jeremy Streten<\/strong> says buyer beware.\u00a0 Agents and sellers do not have to tell you as much as you might think or would like.
\nTranscript :<\/strong>
\n
\nKevin:<\/strong>\u00a0 Probably one of the most common questions I\u2019m asked by a buyer is what exactly should an agent have to tell me or a seller have to disclose when they\u2019re selling a property? Let\u2019s find out. Jeremy Streten is a lawyer from SMSLaw.com.au. He joins me to talk about that.
\nGood day, Jeremy. How are you doing?
\nJeremy:<\/strong>\u00a0 Very well, thanks.
\nKevin:<\/strong>\u00a0 I imagine you get this question a lot, too: what things need to be disclosed. What do you say, Jeremy?
\nJeremy:<\/strong>\u00a0 Yes, it\u2019s an interesting question. The law says that it\u2019s really buyer beware, so if you\u2019re buying a property, you need to do your own investigations and find out everything you can about that property and not rely upon what anyone knows about that property, but that can be changed depending on what the actual issues are.
\nSo, if there\u2019s an issue that the seller knows would actually affect your ability to buy the property, then they have to disclose it to you. And if you ask the agent a question and they know the truth of what has actually happened with the property, then they have to tell them what that actual issue is.
\nKevin:<\/strong>\u00a0 The difficulty, though, is proving it, isn\u2019t it \u2013 proving what the seller knows and what the agent knows?
\nJeremy:<\/strong>\u00a0 Absolutely, yes. The problem with a lot of the things with the law is actually proving what someone knew at the time. It depends on what it is and it depends on what you\u2019re trying to actually prove.
\nKevin:<\/strong>\u00a0 What are some of the substantial things that need to be disclosed that sellers need to be aware of?
\nJeremy:<\/strong>\u00a0 Things like known defects in the property, so if you know that the construction isn\u2019t up to scratch and that things aren\u2019t properly approved, then you need to disclose that to the buyer.
\nThere was a classic case in New South Wales where an Asian buyer was looking to buy a property and they weren\u2019t told that someone had actually died in that property a couple of years beforehand, and that kind of information, because of who the buyers were and their religious beliefs, they weren\u2019t actually able to buy.
\nIt does vary on what it is, but there are\u2026
\nKevin:<\/strong>\u00a0 Can I ask you a question about that particular case, Jeremy? That raises a couple of really interesting points, in my mind anyway. Does that mean, then, that if the agent is aware of that, they need to disclose that to every buyer?
\nJeremy:<\/strong>\u00a0 Things like that, yes, because that could affect everyone\u2019s decision, in my view.
\nKevin:<\/strong>\u00a0 That\u2019s a big downer, really, isn\u2019t it? That is going to greatly impact who\u2019s going to buy it, so therefore, some people could see that as an opportunity to maybe screw the price right down.
\nJeremy:<\/strong>\u00a0 They could, but unfortunately, if you think that it might affect someone\u2019s ability to negotiate or to want to buy that property, then that is something that you need to disclose to them if you\u2019re aware of it, because the mere fact that you\u2019re asking yourself the question is indicative that it would be something that you should be disclosing.
\nKevin:<\/strong>\u00a0 What about things like there was some white ant damage, we didn\u2019t necessarily get the damage repaired, but we certainly got rid of the white ants? Is that something that also needs to be disclosed?
\nJeremy:<\/strong>\u00a0 That\u2019s an interesting one. Technically not, especially if the buyer has the right to get a pest inspection for the property, because their pest inspector or building inspector should find that information out. But if it\u2019s substantial damage, then you definitely need to disclose it. If it\u2019s minor damage and the inspector doesn\u2019t pick it up, then you don\u2019t have to disclose it.
\nIt can also be that you don\u2019t know that the damage is there, as well. I\u2019ve seen cases where the owners didn\u2019t actually know that the damage was there. Well, if they didn\u2019t know it was there, then they couldn\u2019t be held responsible for it.
\nKevin:<\/strong>\u00a0 Just getting to the bottom line, I guess, now. What can a buyer do if they haven\u2019t been told something substantial like that about the property? What can they do?
\nJeremy:<\/strong>\u00a0 The big thing is if the contract hasn\u2019t settled and they\u2019re coming up with a settlement and they find out about it, then they could potentially terminate the contract depending on its terms. But if it has settled, then they can actually sue the seller for damages.
\nSo, if the value of the property is less because of misrepresentation, if they have told them something or failed to tell them something about the property and you can prove there is a loss in value, then the buyer can actually sue the seller for that loss. That can be very difficult to prove, though.
\nKevin:<\/strong>\u00a0 Yes, of course. Is there a timeframe on that?
\nJeremy:<\/strong>\u00a0 The normal timeframe on a misrepresentation-type claim is about six years.
\nKevin:<\/strong>\u00a0 But then, as you say, you have to prove that it was like that when you purchased it and you probably also have to prove that the seller knew about it, wouldn\u2019t you?
\nJeremy:<\/strong>\u00a0 Yes. You have to prove that the seller knew about it and also that it has actually diminished the value of the property. We all know that the value of a property does vary widely. You could ask ten different people and they probably have ten different answers for the value of a property and what might affect it, so the actual valuation question can be very difficult to understand and to really nail down.
\nKevin:<\/strong>\u00a0 Yes, it raises an interesting question. We\u2019re not going to be able to solve it here, but I still am a great believer in that a building and pest inspection \u2013 and even some other types of inspections \u2013 should be almost mandatory at the point of listing.
\nThere are a couple of reasons for that, I think, Jeremy. One is that the seller is going to know that there\u2019s nothing that\u2019s going to hold up the sale of their property, but also, buyers are going to buy it with confidence, I would have thought.
\nJeremy:<\/strong>\u00a0 Absolutely. I think probably one of the big things is that a building and pest inspection will have lots of caveats and lots of\u2026 If there was furniture up against a wall, then we wouldn\u2019t have removed that.
\nYou need to make sure that you get in behind all the walls, all the couches, all the beds, and make sure that what is behind the walls and what is behind the furniture doesn\u2019t have any damage on it.
\nI had one recently where a client came to see me where behind the bed was a massive amount of termite damage that had been deliberately hidden away, and we were able to get some compensation from the seller on that.
\nKevin:<\/strong>\u00a0 Yes, still a lot of gray areas here. If you want to get some good advice on this, go to SMSLaw.com.au. My guest has been Jeremy Streten. Jeremy, thanks for your time.
\nJeremy:<\/strong>\u00a0 Thanks very much.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We ask a solicitor \u201cWhat sellers have to tell you when buying a property\u201d.\u00a0 Solicitor Jeremy Streten says buyer beware.\u00a0 Agents and sellers do not have to tell you as much as you might think or would like. Transcript : Kevin:\u00a0 Probably one of the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176692471,"featured_media":14340,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[34,10,11,13,36,22,25,27],"tags":[101],"class_list":["post-14333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance-topic","category-kevin-turner-sponsored-channels","category-kevin-update","category-latest-story","category-property-investment-topic","category-research-topic","category-sponsored-channels","category-trends-topic","tag-podcast"],"yoast_head":"\nBuyer beware \u2013\u00a0Jeremy Streten - Realty Talk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/channels.realty.com.au\/realtytalk\/buyer-beware-jeremy-streten\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Buyer beware \u2013\u00a0Jeremy Streten - Realty Talk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We ask a solicitor \u201cWhat sellers have to tell you when buying a property\u201d.\u00a0 Solicitor Jeremy Streten says buyer beware.\u00a0 Agents and sellers do not have to tell you as much as you might think or would like. 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