Ghosts and Real Estate

Several times while discussing ghost hunting with people, the topic of how ghosts affect real estate laws has come up. Several homeowners claimed that evidence of ghosts is required by law to be disclosed to potential buyers. At first, it sounded pretty silly to me. It’s hard to imagine that laws could be in place designed around paranormal activities. But it’s come up often enough that I decided to see if there was any truth to what people were saying.

It turns out that they were sort of right. The law actually depends on what state you live in (or country for that matter.) Some states have a law that basically says homeowners are required to disclose any emotional defects of a property. That can include violent crimes that occurred at the location, issues with the location itself, and possible paranormal activity.

There was actually a well publicized case in New York where a woman bought a house not knowing that it had a reputation of being haunted. When a local mentioned it to her, she took the sellers to court and got back her full deposit on the property.

Massachusetts on the other hand has a law that says that paranormal activity, because it isn’t a material facet, is not terms for action against a seller.

So if you are buying, or selling property, and you are concerned with paranormal activity, check your local laws first. What you find just might surprise you.