Apartment with a view of the trash cans!
A real estate investment company (SCI) sold an apartment to a buyer on a “sale before completion” basis. After moving in, the buyer filed a lawsuit seeking to have the sale rescinded and to receive damages. In support of his claim, he points out the absence of a trash room in the building (despite its mention in the descriptive brochure attached to the reservation contract) and the installation of recycling bins located directly across from his apartment, which cause significant noise and odor nuisances. The real estate investment company (SCI) defended itself by arguing that a breach of a precontractual duty to disclose information was not sufficient to establish fault on its part. To no avail. According to the Court of Cassation, the judges were correct in after noting that no contractual document mentioned the presence of recycling bins located in front of the purchaser’s apartment, correctly concluded that the seller had breached its pre-contractual duty to disclose information by deliberately failing to draw the purchaser’s attention to a critical piece of information of which it was aware.
