Sad Facts

Here in California sellers of real estate are obligated to disclose everything from cat dander to noisy neighbors. We have some of the toughest disclosure laws in the nation.

Not so in Pennsylvania. Just ask Janet Milliken, who moved from California to Pennsylvania and bought a house unaware a murder-suicide had taken place on the property the year before, and no one told her.

Janet’s husband had recently died, and she left California with their two daughters to be closer to family. In the small town of Thornton, Pennsylvania, Janet found a two-story home for sale on a quiet street. She made the purchase and the family moved in, ready to start a new life.

Not surprisingly, soon after Janet moved into her new home a neighbor asked, “So you heard about what happened in your house, right?” The neighbor told Janet the facts of the story that everyone else on the street already knew: A former owner of the property had shot and killed his wife and then himself in the master bedroom of the home. A few months later, the home was bought at an auction by Joseph and Kathleen Jacono, who knew of the murder-suicide, and a few months after that, sold it to Janet Milliken. The Jaconos bought the place for $450,000 and sold it to Janet for $610,000.

After Milliken learned the truth, she struggled with what to say to her kids or whether to even tell them at all. Then the kids had friends over to visit, who broke the news.

“Janet’s kids were very upset and disturbed,” said Milliken’s attorney. “They were already dealing with the death of their father.”

Janet wants the sale rescinded, and her money back. She and the kids would prefer to leave, but can’t afford to without selling the house.

“I would in good conscience have to disclose the horrible tragedy if I sold, and I know the house would sell for far less than I paid,” said Janet.

Janet has filed a law suit against the seller and their Realtor.

Pennsylvania is a few thousand miles from California, but apparently it is light years away in the world of disclosure. In California, death on a property is a disclosure no-brainer. All sellers here are required by law to disclose any death on a property within the last three years. California sellers are also obligated to disclose any “material fact” that would “affect the value or desirability” of a property, regardless of the three-year rule.

Janet Milliken’s Pennsylvania seller argues they faced no such requirement.

If Janet Milliken had bought her house in California, and the seller hid the fact of a murder-suicide, that seller would be a dead-bang loser in a lawsuit. Janet would undoubtedly have all her money back and more.

Can a seller in Pennsylvania really get away with such non-disclosure?

The trial judge ruled in favor of the seller. Milliken has appealed to the State Supreme Court.

Milliken’s attorney said, “We hope to have Pennsylvania recognize that having a horrific event occur within a property can be just as damaging and troubling to a future homeowner as a physical defect, or perhaps even more so. Physical defects in a house can be fixed. Something like this never goes away.”

The attorney said that sellers should be required to disclose troubling events, “at least for a period of time.”

That should be a no-brainer.