Someone died in the house. Do we have to tell buyers?
Answered by Chris Deutsch, Founder & Editor
Licensed Minnesota Realtor #20382264 ·
The short answer
In Minnesota, mostly no — with one sharp exception worth knowing. Under Minnesota Statute 513.56, sellers don't have to disclose that a death on the property was natural, accidental, or a suicide. The law treats grief as part of a house's history, not a defect in it.
On stage The 60-second answer
Captions on · Transcript below
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The longer answer
Homicide is different. Minnesota's statute doesn't extend the exemption to murder — if someone was killed on the property, that's a fact sellers do need to disclose. (I'm not your attorney, and this isn't legal advice.) Your estate attorney gets the final word on your disclosure form and where the exact line sits for your situation.
Two things worth knowing either way. If a buyer asks directly, nobody should lie. Declining to answer is one thing; misrepresenting is another. And buyers sometimes find things online regardless of what's on the form. When the circumstances were harder than an ordinary passing, we talk strategy before listing — not after a buyer's search does it for us.
And hear the quieter answer underneath: your mom dying in the home she loved isn't a stain on the house. Buyers are buying the sunlight and the kitchen. A house is allowed to have held a whole life.
Program notes
Where this answer comes from
- Minn. Stat. § 513.56
Verified . When I get one wrong, I fix the answer and change the date.
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From the editor's desk
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