Can I get sued if my agent says to simply mark ‘unknown” on the disclosure form?

Yes you can get sued for failing to make a disclosure if a defect in the property relates to that category. Here is a reason why this is likely. Let's say you bought the house and the furnace proved to be defective. The owners, not being HVAC professions thought they could get away with checking off "unknown" on the disclosure statement. After all they aren't qualified to know if the heat exchanger is cracked. So far sounds good doesn't it. 

But let's dig deeper. The owners knew the furnace was acting funny, it wasn't producing the right amount of heat and their heating bills were increasing. There were other signs but we don't need to go into all of them. 

What the owners did need to disclose was their knowledge about the furnace not working right. And their knowledge is not unknown, in fact they know enough that any reasonable buyer would suspect more investigation was necessary. An HVAC inspection for less than $100 would have discovered the cracked heat exchanger and the owners would have been required to spend the $1,000 to repair it. 

So what we have is a seller failing to disclose their knowledge about the furnace and that is a violation of Iowa law. 

As a lawyer, my advice to the buyers would be so to sue the sellers for failing to make any disclosure as to their knowledge of the defective furnace, water heater, water softener, roof leaking, windows leaking or any other defect in the home’s systems. 

I know what the sellers will say when the letter arrives from the buyers' lawyer asking for reimbursement of the HVAC repair bill. "But my real estate agent said I can mark ‘unknown’ on the disclosure form."

Whose advice should you follow? It doesn't matter what the real estate agent told you to do when filling out the disclosure form. That is legal advice and to my knowledge there are very few real estate agents and brokers in Iowa who are also licensed attorneys. Real estate agents are not permitted to give you legal advice. This is legal advice. That and they will probably deny ever telling you how to mark the disclosure form.

Make sense? If not call us for a consultation.

Is checking ‘unknown’ a legitimate disclosure answer for Iowa’s residential disclosure form?

No it is not a legitimate descriptive category of the owners' knowledge. After all, if the owners don't know what they know then who would? The who fills out the form is an owner with knowledge of the home. If they've never lived there then and have absolutely no knowledge of defects or repairs then the appropriate answer would appear to be "no". You are the owner and as an owner you are responsible to know the condition of your property. "I don't know" is not a legitimate answer because what you are disclosing is your knowledge of defects and repair. 

How can an owner not know what knowledge they have? It's absurd for an owner to say they have no knowledge of their knowledge.

Under Iowa law you have a duty to disclose what knowledge you have about defects. You either have knowledge of defects of you don’t. If you mark “unknown” you are failing to say if you do or do not have knowledge of a defect. So marking ‘unknown’ is a huge red flag to a lawyer and it is a failure to disclose your knowledge and that is a violation of the law. If the buyers came to me as a lawyer I would most likely advise them to sue the sellers for failing to disclose. And that is how I see "unknown" as an option - it's simply a failure to disclose.

Make sense? If not call us for a consultation.

You can buy, but not sell a house “As-Is”.

Buyers have a duty to disclose known defects. Sellers have no duty to read or to pay attention to what is being disclosed. So, you can buy a home on an ‘as-is’ basis, but as a seller you have to fill out a written disclosure form and deliver it to any buyer making an offer. If you don't then you're in violation of the law.

Make sense? If not call us for a consultation.

Buying A Home: Hey save all those purchase documents!

If you are going to buy residential real estate then you need to become as familiar with the process as you can. You also need to get organized and that means learning how to create a paper file that will support your side of the deal if after the deal is done it becomes undone. Paper is what will help protect you in the event you bought a house of cards or the proverbial money pit. So let’s discuss how to get organized.

Whenever you purchase a home you should start off organized and even after the sale is indeed done, stay organized by saving all the sale-purchase documents in a file folder.

Figure out which of you is better at organization and make it their job to keep the documents complete and available. That way there is no discussion later on about thinking the other was saving "those documents". Here are the tools you need.

1. Create a file folder with the address or name of your neighborhood.
2. The file folder should have multiple sections so you can divide the contents.
3. One section should be for what your agent gave you and another for what the sellers handed out.
4. Using a 3-ring binder, save all the owner manuals for the appliances and systems in the house.
5. In the home owner’s folder save all those purchase documents you were given, and especially the Iowa Residential Real Estate Disclosure Form.
6. Save the home inspection.
7. Save the real estate agent's business cards.
8. Pick up any business cards left on the counter, because they could later on become witnesses in your case.
9. Before closing make sure all the documents were signed and dated. Don't leave the closing without signed documents.
10. Keep a copy of the offer and acceptance forms that are exchanged.
11. Keep a copy of the sale’s brochure and materials.
12. At the closing require not just keys but owner manuals and if available copies of the purchase invoices for the various appliances.
13. At the closing require a list of vendors who have regularly serviced the real estate. (The plumber, pool company, heating & cooling company, roofer, siding, gutters, lawn irrigation company, electrician, etc.) You want to know who knows your home’s systems and how they work.

So get organized and stay organized. 

HOW TO CONTACT US

The Lombardi Law Firm

5000 Westown Parkway, Suite 440

West Des Moines, Iowa 50266

Telephone: 515-222-1110

Fax: 515-222-0718

Write to Steve or Katrina

Email: sdlombardi@aol.com  or katrina.schaefer8@gmail.com