Nearly half of UK buyers wouldn't even view a haunted home, and only a quarter of sellers would own up to one. Plus the American house a court declared haunted "as a matter of law".
Halloween is nearly here, so let's ask the question every agent secretly wonders about. If a seller told you their house came with a resident ghost, would it put you off?
You wouldn't be alone if it did. A 2023 survey by the estate agency Yopa found that 44% of buyers would avoid even viewing a property if they knew it was haunted. 57% said they'd put in a lower offer, with buyers knocking an average of around 10% off the price.
And the sellers? Only 25% said they'd own up.
So somewhere out there, three quarters of our spookier sellers are keeping very quiet.
The house that was haunted by law (in America)
If you think that's odd, spare a thought for a buyer in Nyack, New York, back in 1991.
He bought a grand Victorian house on the banks of the Hudson, only to discover that the seller had spent years telling the local press, and a national magazine, all about the ghosts she shared it with. Nobody had mentioned this to him.
He took her to court, and the judges came to a wonderful conclusion. Because the seller had told the world her house was haunted, it was, "as a matter of law", haunted. The buyer was allowed to pull out of the deal.
Law students in the US still study it today. They call it the Ghostbusters ruling.
What about over here?
Before anyone in the UK rushes to cancel a sale over a creaky floorboard: that was an American court, applying American law, and the rules here are different. So what do sellers and agents in England actually have to tell buyers? That's a serious question, and it's one for next week. Our next column looks at what really needs to be disclosed, ghosts or no ghosts.
Over to you
Would you buy a haunted house if it ticked every other box? And has a viewing ever given you the shivers?
Tell us in the comments. The best story might just make it into a future column.
Questions? Email claudia@letiq.co.uk
Sources: Yopa survey (Property Reporter, 31 October 2023), Stambovsky v. Ackley (1991), Cornell Legal Information Institute
Claudia Brown, Director, LETiQ
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