Sale By Owner in Delaware
When you sell your home in Delaware, the law requires you to give a property condition report to all prospective buyers prior to the time the buyer makes an offer to purchase your home. This report is used to disclose all material defects of your property that are known at the time the property is put on the market and that are known prior to the time of final settlement.
One of the most common mistakes that are made in filling out this report is the failure to understand the difference between the words “no” and “unknown.” Here are 2 of the questions that have to be answered: Are there any zoning violations, non-conforming uses, or set-back violations? Are there any tax ditches crossing or bordering the property?
Your answer can be “yes,” “no” or “unknown.” Most sellers who answer these 2 questions select “no” as the answer. These sellers aren’t deliberately trying to mislead anyone, but they’ve never been given any reason to believe that these things exist on their property, and so they say “no.” But most people don’t know what a “set-back violation” is, or what a “tax ditch” is. If you don’t know what these things are, how can you say your property doesn’t have them? And yet, if you answer “no,” your buyer has the right to rely on your answer, and if it turns out later that these things actually do exist on your property, the buyer would have the right to sue you. Therefore, if you don’t know what these things are, the more correct answer would be “unknown.”
If you're thinking about selling your home as a "sale by owner," be sure to contact a knowledgeable and experienced real estate lawyer who can help you through the process.
