Alejandre v. Bull | Washington Real Estate Seller Disclosure Statement

In Alejandre v. Bull the Washington Supreme Court (March, 2007) sided with the seller and did not allow the buyer to sue for damages for the seller's misrepresentation of the seller's disclosure statement. In this case, the seller knowingly gave the buyer a faulty septic tank. To read more about the case, Attorney Russell G. Cofano does a great job of summarizing Alejandre v. Bull. What I want to do is discuss the implication of Alejandre v. Bull on the new forms coming out in October for Washington REALTORS®.

In the August 2007 edition of Washington REALTOR® News, I quote from page 11:

...there will be a provision in the new form to address the significant changes to law caused by the case of Alejandre v. Bull, decided by our state Supreme Court on March 1, 2007. Essentially, the new provision requires the parties to select whether they intend seller to be liable for the accuracy of the answers given in the Seller Disclosure Statement or whether the parties intend those answers to be informational only, with buyer having essentially no right to sue seller for the accuracy of the answers following closing.

Hmm, what can I say. How about the potential for a future court case for, let's say, Poorly Represented Buyer v. Incompetent Real Estate Agent for the real estate agent who recommends/allows his/her buyer to not hold the seller responsible for anything the seller states in the seller property disclosure statement. Or the real estate agent who has the buyer unknowingly sign away the buyer's rights in regards to the seller's statements. It's unfortunate that we now have a choice in the new form on whether or not we should hold the seller responsible for statements made in the seller disclosure statement, as there will most certainly be a buyer that unknowingly gives away any recourse the buyer may have against the seller.

The Alejandre v. Bull case, and now the Washington real estate form's new option to allow the seller a "Get Out Of Jail Free" card opens up a new era of Buyer Beware.

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