Alyssa Burrage was smoked out of her $405,000 condominium.
Burrage has a history of asthma and has smelled smoke since she first viewed the unit on the south end of Boston in 2006 with her real estate broker. The broker assured Burrage the smoke she smelled was from a previous owner and the stench would disappear.
After Burrage moved in she discovered the smoke was coming from a smoker in the unit below her’s. The condo association refused to fix the problem as did the lower unit where the secondhand smoke was coming from. Burrage moved out and leased the condo in May of 2008. She states, “I’m certainly not a person who’s on a soapbox saying people shouldn’t smoke. But when it affects somebody else, that’s where the line needs to be drawn. It’s an awful thing to not be able to escape from something that’s hurting your health.’’
Neither the real estate broker, Joseph DeAngelo, nor his lawyer would comment on the case. In a joint court filing summarizing the case, DeAngelo and his employer, Gibson Sotheby’s International Realty, deny that Burrage questioned him about smoke in the condo.
“DeAngelo never made any misrepresentations, or any representations at all, concerning the source of the alleged smoke smell,’’ the broker’s lawyer, Jay S. Gregory of Boston, said in the filing.
Burrage also sued the condo unit below her, and later settled out of court, because the lower unit condo owner stated that it was cheaper just to settle out of court.
Should Brokers be REQUIRED to disclose ACCURATE information about smoking to prospective buyers?
Wayne Long says:
Wow! Soon you want be able to comment while showing property for fear of being sued. Lawsuits should be reserved for serious matters that cannot be resolved any other way. We need reform!
February 11, 2010 — 7:05 am
Maxwell McDaniel says:
Interesting question and one that takes some supposition of knowledge to effectively answer. Brokers (agents)are always REQUIRED to disclose any fact that they KNOW that could materially impact the decision of a buyer or seller. In your example above, you state that the broker, Mr. DeAngelo, assured the buyer that the smoke came from a previous occupant. How did he know that? Even if he knew the previous occupant was a smoker from personal experience, how could he know that the smoke odor was not also coming from somewhere else? We can only disclose what we know to be true!
All too often I see agents overstep their area of expertise in an effort to provide “better service” to their clients, when in fact they are doing both the client and themselves a DIS-service. Was Mr. DeAngelo an expert on smoke odor sources? I’m guessing not.
In this case, the broker should have never assured the buyer the smoke came from a previous occupant. In making that statement, he put himself at risk and now will likely lose the pending suit.
Let’s not forget what our job is here people! Don’t make representations about things that you don’t know to be an ABSOLUTE FACT, and even then, double check -then check again.
February 11, 2010 — 7:14 am
Tom Johnson says:
I notice the agent was described as an employee. I doubt that is the case. As Greg has mentioned, several liability is killing brokers.
February 11, 2010 — 2:05 pm