Crime disclosure

There should be legal stipulations dealing with people who sell property with shady or grisly backgrounds, such as a house where a murder occurred.

One can easily identify with a Kansas City area couple who are suing previous homeowners and real estate people who did not disclose that a house the couple purchased had been the site of a gruesome murder. Whether the law forces disclosure of such background material to buyers is not the point. This is an issue of ethics and honesty.

The purchasing couple believe they were victims of misrepresentation and a violation of consumer protection laws. So they have filed what is believed to be the first lawsuit of its kind in the state of Missouri.

Apparently, disclosure that a house has been the site of a crime is not required in Kansas or Missouri. It should be. As it turns out, a man was brutally beaten to death in the house in question well over a year ago. While the purchasing couple had heard about the crime in the general region, they say they had no knowledge it occurred in their house. It is not difficult for most people to understand why this couple would be unsettled after learning about the bloody incident.

In recent years, several Kansas City area residences where serious crimes occurred were razed to clear the way for new buildings on the property. Some might even have misgivings about having a new house at such a location.

But when a standing house or business building has been the focal point of a serious crime, it should be the responsibility of the real estate sales people and the sellers to tell prospective buyers. That might cause a renegotiation of the selling price, or might negate the sale. So be it. People have a right to know if there were grim past occurrences at a place where they choose to live or do business.

Ideally, the sellers and the realty people involved should be honest and forthright about the conditions. But in case they have memory lapses or are outright fraudulent in their dealing, they should be answerable to laws governing such things.

If there is no such consumer protection legislation on the books, it should be put there as soon as possible in Kansas and Missouri.