Failure by the real estate agent to disclose visible defects
The duty to advise, which real estate agents are required to fulfill, obligates them to inform the buyer of a residence sold through their agency of any apparent defects affecting the property.
This is the clarification that the Court of Cassation has just provided.
Without calling into question the buyer’s obligation to pay close attention to the condition of the property being viewed and to inquire about all relevant information, the senior judges held that while the poor condition of the exterior window and door frames was clearly visible to the buyer and therefore known to him at the time the sales contract was signed, these defects were also necessarily known to the real estate agent, who, as a real estate professional, could not have been unaware of them.
Called upon to resolve the dispute, they therefore upheld the ruling ordering the real estate agent to compensate the buyer.
