Sometimes, you only find out after the fact that the real estate agent you trusted has lied to you. If it caused you damage, the agent can be made to pay for it. First, you should hire a real estate lawyer to help you file a lawsuit against the agent who misled or outright lied to you. Whitney, LLP’s attorneys have experienced holding real estate agents responsible for their lies.
Whitney, LLP’s real estate lawyers help home buyers bring claims and file lawsuits against dishonest and negligent home sellers, house flippers, real estate agents and termite inspection companies across Maryland. Our attorneys recover compensation for buyers to repair hidden damage and defects and for emotional distress. We offer legal consultations.
If you need a real estate lawyer near me to help with hidden damage, failure to disclose defects, negligence or fraud in the purchase of a house, call us at 410 583 8000 or use our Online Quick Contact Form.
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You Can Sue Real Estate Agents for Lying
We have many clients come to us asking what their rights are if their real estate agent lied to them. The short answer is that it depends on what they lied about and whether you can prove that they misled you.
Generally, real estate agents on both sides of a transaction have a duty to disclose all material facts to the buyer. This is a significant duty that some real estate agents ignore.
One of the areas where a real estate agent must tell the truth is when it comes to disclosing defects in the property that you are buying. As the buyer, you depend on others throughout the sales process to tell you vital information. One of the most important pieces of information that you are entitled to is the condition of the property. Otherwise, you may be stuck with a money pit that requires constant repair.
Real estate agents can tell a number of other material lies that could hurt you. They might lie about the number of other offers on the property and the prices.
The buyer’s agent has a fiduciary duty to their client. This means that they must tell you the truth. When they fail to uphold this basic duty, they can be found liable to you in a civil lawsuit. They can be sued for:
- Negligence
- Misrepresentation
- Fraud
- Breach of fiduciary duty
You should know that when it comes to suing a real estate agent for lying, not telling you something important can be the same exact thing as lying. Their duty is one to disclose. It does not matter if they lied to you or simply withheld the information; at the end of the day, if they did not tell you something that they were required to disclose and it caused damages, you have legal rights and may be able to recover compensation.
You Can Receive Compensation If an Agent Lied
When you are able to prove that your real estate agent lied and it caused damages, you can receive financial compensation. Appropriate compensation to put you in the same exact position as if they never lied to you would be one of the measures of damages.
This is not all. If their lie rose to the level of fraud, you could be entitled to punitive damages.
First, you must show that the agent lied to you. To do this, you should hire an experienced real estate lawyer to help establish and prove the facts. Your real estate attorney will work with you to figure out what happened and what the real estate agent did wrong.
Maryland Real Estate Lawyers Filing Lawsuits Against Lying Agents
If you were the victim of a dishonest seller, real estate agent or WDI/termite inspection company in Maryland, contact Whitney, LLP’s real estate lawyers at 410 583 8000, or use our Online Quick Contact Form, for your legal consultation.
We represent homebuyers throughout Maryland, including Baltimore, Columbia, Germantown, Silver Spring, Waldorf, Frederick, Ellicott City, Glen Burnie, Gaithersburg, Rockville, Bethesda, Dundalk, Towson, Bowie, Aspen Hill and Wheaton.