Stigmatized property
Encyclopedia
In real estate
Real estate
In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...

, stigmatized property is property which buyers or tenants may shun for reasons that are unrelated to its physical condition or features. These can include murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...

, suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...

 or even AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...

, in addition to a belief that a house may be haunted
Haunted house
A haunted house is a house or other building often perceived as being inhabited by disembodied spirits of the deceased who may have been former residents or were familiar with the property...

. The concept is controversial.

Famous homes, such as those used in television productions or filmmaking
Filmmaking
Filmmaking is the process of making a film, from an initial story, idea, or commission, through scriptwriting, casting, shooting, directing, editing, and screening the finished product before an audience that may result in a theatrical release or television program...

, can also be stigmatized by increased traffic from fans wanting to see the house in person. One such home is the house at 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, New York
Amityville, New York
Amityville is a village in the town of Babylon in Suffolk County, New York, in the United States. The population was 9,441 at the 2000 census.-History:...

, made famous in the film The Amityville Horror. In this house, Ronald DeFeo, Jr.
Ronald DeFeo, Jr.
Ronald Joseph "Butch" DeFeo, Jr. is an American murderer. He was tried and convicted for the 1974 killings of his father, mother, two brothers and two sisters...

 murdered his family. The Lutz family claimed that, a little over a year later, evil spirits drove them from their home; their claims have been "authenticated" by the Catholic Church and by paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren. The late Hans Holzer
Hans Holzer
Hans Holzer was an Austrian-born, American pioneering paranormal researcher and author. He wrote well over 100 books on supernatural and occult subjects for the popular market as well as several plays, musicals, films, and documentaries, and hosted a television show, "Ghost Hunter".- Career...

 also maintained to his dying day that the spirit of a long-dead Indian chief haunts the property. Since the film's release, the house has been renovated and the address changed in an attempt to prevent sightseers from disturbing the neighborhood.

It is argued that the seller has a duty to disclose any such history of the property. This, in practice, falls into two categories: demonstrable (physical) as well as emotional. These guidelines vary from state to state.

Legal status

At least in the United States, the principle of caveat emptor
Caveat emptor
Caveat emptor is Latin for "Let the buyer beware". Generally, caveat emptor is the property law doctrine that controls the sale of real property after the date of closing.- Explanation :...

("let the buyer beware") was held for many years to govern sales. As the idea of an implied warranty
Implied warranty
In common law jurisdictions, an implied warranty is a contract law term for certain assurances that are presumed to be made in the sale of products or real property, due to the circumstances of the sale. These assurances are characterized as warranties irrespective of whether the seller has...

 of habitability began to find purchase, however, issues like the stigma attached to a property based on acts, "haunting", or criminal activity began to make their way into legal precedents.

In Stambovsky v. Ackley
Stambovsky v. Ackley
Stambovsky v. Ackley, 169 A.D.2d 254 , is a case in the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, that held that a house, which the owner had previously advertised to the public as haunted by ghosts, was legally haunted for the purpose of an action for rescission brought by a subsequent purchaser...

the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, affirmed a narrow interpretation of the idea of stigmatized property. The court held that since the property in question was previously marketed by the seller as a "haunted house" he was estopped from claiming the contrary. The majority opinion specifically noted that the veracity of the claims of paranormal
Paranormal
Paranormal is a general term that designates experiences that lie outside "the range of normal experience or scientific explanation" or that indicates phenomena understood to be outside of science's current ability to explain or measure...

 activities were outside the purview of the opinion. Notwithstanding these conclusions, the court affirmed the dismissal of the fraudulent misrepresentation action and stated that the realtor was under no duty to disclose the haunting to potential buyers. Several states have created specific statutes in the US adding "stigmatised property" verbiage to their legal code.

Types of stigma

Many jurisdictions recognize several forms of stigmatized property, and have passed resolutions or statutes to deal with them. One issue that separates them is disclosure. Depending on the jurisdiction
Jurisdiction
Jurisdiction is the practical authority granted to a formally constituted legal body or to a political leader to deal with and make pronouncements on legal matters and, by implication, to administer justice within a defined area of responsibility...

 of the house, the seller may not be required to disclose the full facts. Some specific types must always be disclosed, others are up to the jurisdiction, and still others up to the realtor.

The types include:
  • Public stigma : when the stigma is known to a wide selection of the population and any reasonable person can be expected to know of it. Examples include the Amityville Horror house and the home of the Menendez brothers
    Lyle and Erik Menendez
    Joseph Lyle Menendez and Erik Galen Menendez are brothers who are known for their conviction in a highly publicized trial for the shotgun murders in 1989 of their wealthy parents, entertainment executive Jose Menendez and his wife Mary "Kitty" Menendez , residents of Beverly Hills, California...

    . Public stigma must always be disclosed, in almost all American
    Americas
    The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...

     and Europe
    Europe
    Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

    an jurisdictions.

  • Criminal stigma: the property was used in the ongoing commission of a crime. For example, a house is stigmatized if it has been used as a chop shop, drug den or brothel. In the case of drug dens, some drug addicts may inadvertently come to the address expecting to purchase illegal drugs. Most jurisdictions require full disclosure of this sort of element.

  • Murder/suicide stigma: Some jurisdictions in the United States require property sellers to reveal if murder or suicide occurred on the premises. California state law does if the event occurred within the previous three years. To protect sellers from lawsuits, Florida state law does not require any notification (see FL statute 689.25: "Failure to disclose homicide, suicide, deaths, or diagnosis of HIV or AIDS infection in an occupant of real property").

  • Debt stigma: Debt collectors not aware that a debtor has moved out of a particular residence may continue their pursuit at the same location, resulting in harassment to innocent subsequent occupiers. This is particularly pronounced if the collection agency uses aggressive tactics.

  • Phenomena stigma: Many (but not all) jurisdictions require disclosure if a house is renowned for "haunting", ghost sightings, etc. This is in a separate category from public stigma where the knowledge of "haunting" is restricted to a local market.

  • Minimal stigma is known to, or taken seriously by, only a small select group, and such a stigma is unlikely to affect the ability to sell the property; in such a case, realtors may decide to disclose this information in a case-by-case basis.

External links

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