Boo! Arizona residents may live in haunted house without knowing it

PHOENIX — You’ve found the perfect home, in a perfect neighborhood, and you’re all set to sign the papers. But does your buyer have to tell you if anything spooky or bad happened there?

According to Arizona law, they don’t.

“In Arizona, you actually don’t have to disclose if your house was haunted,” said lawyer Amanda Salvione. “You’re normally disclosing about ownership history, safety, environmental issues,” such as cracks in the foundation or major structural defects.

The exception to the spooky house disclosure rule, Salvione said, is if a person told others their home is haunted and the general public is aware of it.

Otherwise, she said, “You’re not required to disclose anything about natural death, suicide, homicide, if there was someone who lived there before with AIDS.”

But the same is not true in all states: California, Alaska and South Dakota require sellers to disclose deaths-in-the-home information to all potential buyers.

According to Redfin, California sellers “must reveal if a death in the home has occurred anytime in the past three years, including death by natural causes.

“If a buyer comes out and asks about a death that occurred at any time, even longer than three years ago, the seller is required to provide a truthful response.”

Alaska and South Dakota law, in contrast, states “only murders or suicides must be disclosed if they happened within the past year.”

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