Selling a Haunted House in Ohio

You’ve probably come across Stambovsky v. Ackley, the most famous haunted house case ever in your contracts class. In that New York case, the house in question was declared legally haunted for the purposes of property disclosure, and the seller was estopped from denying this fact to the purchaser.

If you’re looking to sell a house in Ohio, haunted or not, you’ll want to have a look at the Ohio Residential Property Disclosure Law, ORC 5302.30.  This law requires sellers to disclose any known defects of the property. This would include obvious defects like a shoddy roof or sewage problems, but what about paranormal activity?

Poltergeists and other hauntings probably fall under the broad category of stigmatized properties. On a more earthly plane, stigmatized properties cover properties where murders or suicides took place.

Ohio’s disclosure law is mum as to paranormal disclosures, but subsequent caselaw has addressed the concept of stigmatized properties, specifically the disclosure of rape on a property.

So while technically Ohio law might not require you to disclose the fact that your ghostly great grandmother still roams the halls of your house, you may still want to let the buyer know about the guest.