Realty law is engaging from every one of the several details concerned – from state to state, on top of it all! To illustrate, in Alabama, you cannot rescind your purchase even in cases of seller fraud – that’s right, even where it is obvious from the evidence that deliberate fraud had taken place! Alabama case law takes the old byword “buyer beware” very seriously – rather literally, indeed, in terms of sales of used real estate. In Teer v. Johnston, the court determined that though the defendant made a false pre-sale disclosure warranting something that is patently untrue, the defendant also cancelled that discloure (which means everything relating to it, including its very falsehood) through the addition of an “as-is” clause in the final sales contract. Meaning: buyer has no legal recourse for recovery despite the misrepresentation – despite any misrepresentation – as long as an as-is clause has not been challenged in the sales contract or the deed to the property when in Alabama!
Intricacies abound in life, and the law is no different: that as-is clause would have been no good at all had the misrepresentation involved an unobservable defect that might threaten health or safety. Such nuances are what make property law so compelling, and why there are lots of blogs devoted to the latest cases involving property law from throughout the country. By carefully following such websites, one need not be a professional developer like Isaac Toussie in order to learn about all the feasible pitfalls that can exist where real estate transactions are involved! Indeed, something as patently complex as a real estate deal will require much thought as a matter of course, and the prudent consumer will visit a variety of properly licensed and otherwise qualified professionals when arriving at any matter of consequence, from brokers and agents to lawyers and appraisers.
