Law and Magic Blog

Syfy Readies a New Series On Selling Haunted Houses @THR

From the Hollywood Reporter: Tim Rozon and Sarah Levy, both of Schitt's Creek fame, will star in a new Syfy series, The Surrealtor, about a real estate firm that assists people interested in buying and selling haunted houses--what the law sometimes refers to as stigmatized property or psychologically impacted property.  While we're sure that the emphasis will be on the drama of bringing willing buyers and sellers together, there's some drama in the law of buying and selling haunted houses.

A big question: does the seller have to disclose that the property has a tenant who might not leave? Check out the case of  Stambovsky v. Ackley for one answer. In this particular case, the seller had actually promoted the house's reputation as haunted but hadn't revealed that to the buyer. Said the court:

 

In the case at bar, defendant seller deliberately fostered the public belief that her home was possessed. Having undertaken to inform the public- at-large, to whom she has no legal relationship, about the supernatural occurrences on her property, she may be said to owe no less a duty to her contract vendee. It has been remarked that the occasional modern cases which permit a seller to take unfair advantage of a buyer's ignorance so long as he is not actively misled are "singularly unappetizing" (Prosser, Torts § 106, at 696 [4th ed 1971]). Where, as here, the seller not only takes unfair advantage of the buyer's ignorance but has created and perpetuated a condition about which he is unlikely to even inquire, enforcement of the contract (in whole or in part) is offensive to the court's sense of equity. Application of the remedy of rescission, within the bounds of the narrow exception to the doctrine of caveat emptor set forth herein, is entirely appropriate to relieve the unwitting purchaser from the consequences of a most unnatural bargain.

 

 

Further, ruled the court,

 

Whether the source of the spectral apparitions seen by defendant seller are parapsychic or psychogenic, having reported their presence in both a national publication (Readers' Digest) and the local press (in 1977 and 1982, respectively), defendant is estopped to deny their existence and, as a matter of law, the house is haunted.

The house in that case was on the market again as recently as June 2020, by the way--for $1.9 million. We don't know if that's with or without the ghost. 

Check out this selected bibliography.

Eric Gouvin, On Death and Magic: Law, Necromancy and the Great Beyond, in Law and Magic: A Collection of Essays 229 (Christine A. Corcos, ed., Carolina Academic Press, 2010). 

Christina Ro, Do We Have To Tell Them the House Is Haunted? JSTOR Daily, October 27, 2018.

Gaby Schneider, Betelgeuse Said "Ghost Rights!": The Property Law of Haunted Houses  at The Legal Geeks, October 30, 2019.

Should You Feel POSSESSED To Buy a House, Look At Your State's Disclosure Laws First, Deeds.com, October 27, 2018.

Daniel M. Warner, Caveat Spiritus: A Jurisprudential Reflection Upon the Law of Haunted Houses and Ghosts, 28 ValPo Scholar 207 (1993). 

 

 

 

Lincoln on The Tax Consequences of a Haunted House

Charles Edward Andrew Lincoln, IV, Boston University; Harvard University (Students), has published The Tax Consequences of a Haunted House. Here is the abstract.

If a seller has been estopped legally from denying the existence of ghosts and poltergeists on the premises—thus meaning the house is haunted a matter of law, then how should the haunting be added in to the cost basis for tax purposes? More generally, if a house is legally haunted, what does this mean for tax purposes? In the famous popular 1st year law student case—colloquially known as the Ghostbusters case—Stambovsky, v. Ackley, the New York Court of Appeals deftly wrote, “as a matter of law, the house is haunted” If a seller has been estopped legally from denying the existence of ghosts and poltergeists on the premises—thus meaning the house is haunted a matter of law, what does this mean for tax purposes? To answer this, one must set up a premise of what tax consequences usually are and how they arise. This is a philosophical question. Indeed, there is debate on the origins of what conceptual metaphysical origin brought up tax basis and adjusted basis.

Download the essay from SSRN.

Selling a Canadian House That's NOT Haunted? You're OK

New Brunswick, Canada, realtor Jake Palmer was having trouble selling this nice St. John house (looks like a Dutch colonial to me). So he decided to try sparking some interest in the property by adding some adjectives to describe how unique and desireable it is. First he tried noting that it had indoor plumbing. Well, that's sort of a given. Then he described it as a "Love Shack, Baby!" That should have gotten some bites, but no. 

Then he had a brainstorm. Hey, buyers, in addition to all its other "must haves," as the popular real estate shows are fond of saying, it's "Not Haunted!"

Of course, because the owners of this particular house aren't claiming there's a resident ghost, buyers need not worry, but what's the responsibility of Canadian sellers to inform potential purchasers that a phantom might be about?  John B. Brennan of Lerners gives us a rundown of the law in Ontario.  Briefly, a plaintiff must show by clear and convincing evidence that a haunting, or other unusual events, make a property unfit for use (that it falls into the category of that the law calls "stigmatized property).  More from Matthew Wilson, also of Lerner's, here.

See also what SBMB Law has to say here.  SBMB Law also notes the famous New York case of Stamovsky v. Ackley, in which an unhappy buyer prevailed over a seller who had failed to disclose that she had actually celebrated the haunted qualities of the house she sold him.

Similarly, the law in British Columbia puts the onus on the buyer to check out these kinds of latent defects.

Photos of the house, with its succession of real estate signs, here.

Follow-up here.

Haunted Houses and the Spirit of Property Law

Via @JusticeWillett, some Hallowe'en real estate law.

In Haywood v. Carraway, (180 So. 2d 758, La. Ct. App., 1965) plaintiffs sought damages and compensation for mental pain and anguish from the appellees because sometime around September 1959, the defendants' children had vandalized the plaintiffs' beautiful plantation home, known as Belle Helene. 

The appellants, who had lost at trial, were unhappy with the amount of damages awarded and attempted to argue on appeal, among other things, that the house was in such a state of disrepair that "the children were justified in thinking it an abandoned ghost house incapable of being damaged."

Responded the court, "That the juveniles may have considered the building a "ghost house" or "haunted house" is of no consequence inasmuch as the intention of a party committing vandalism does not affect the right of recovery of the injured party. Our Civil Code LSA-C.C. Article 2318 makes the parent or tutor liable for the torts of his minor child or ward. That the child may have no intent to do harm does not exonerate the parent or guardian from liability for his torts. We are aware of the tendency on the part of present day society, adults and juveniles alike, to regard immovable property which is unoccupied or not in use by its owner, as common property or property belonging to no one in particular or public property belonging to all. However, we hasten to add, for the benefit of the uninformed who may believe otherwise, that such concept finds no support in our law. Furthermore, we are not aware and have been cited no authority in our law which recognizes or establishes the concept of abandoned immovable property."

Thus, even if you think it's an abandoned haunted house, don't go in and smash it up. Someone might be watching you.

 

 

 

Winchester Mystery House Now Taking Overnight (Living) Guests

The Winchester Mystery House, home of Sarah Winchester, widow of Winchester rifle gun manufactuerer William Winchester, has obtained a liquor license and permission to open up to paying overnight guests, so Game on! If you want to check out the building in the wee hours, be its guest. According to the story, a Boston spiritualist told Sarah that the spirits of people killed by her late husband's rifles were haunting her, and to escape them, she had to build an edifice that could house all of them. Hence the Winchester house, which consists of rooms, rooms, rooms, and staircases everywhere. Maybe so--Sarah never actually left a written record of what motivated her to build the enormous house or landscape the estate. Here's more about the house from ABC News.

Make Those Plans To Visit a Haunted House

A little early for Hallowe'en, but, hey! CNN is offering up a list with pix of elaborate venues for ghost hunting, including The Myrtles, the White House (sorry, I think that one's by invitation only in the private areas), and the Lemp House, all of which are reputed to have lots of incorporeal inhabitants. I would point out to Ann Hoevel (such a great name for someone writing about homes) that the first sentence of her article needs clarification.

Ever the gentleman, nothing could stop William Gordon from escorting his wife, Nelly, on her greatest journey.

 

"Ever the gentleman, nothing..." The gentleman is nothing? Needs re-writing.

Did You See That? Call A Paranormal Investigator...and a Network

CNN features an interesting article about the competition currently heatng up among paranormal investigators over tv air time. Apparently paranormal shows are so popular with the public that booking agents and producers are anxious to get hold of the most attractive ones and televise their stories.

Isn't there enough paranormal material to go around? Do we need a campaign to Save Our Spirits? Do ghosts need attorneys to protect their rights of publicity from over-eager folks with infrared equipment , tv contracts, and images of residuals dancing in their heads now? Maybe a law firm should look into that issue...calling Harvey Birdman. 

States Add Sales Taxes To Ramp Up Revenue--And Some Are Truly Magic

Some states are considering new sales taxes to increase revenues. But seriously. Think a minute, folks. Will some of these ideas really rake in the bucks?

Consider New York's imposition of sales tax on haunted house admissions: yup, if you charge more than 10 cents on tickets to your haunted house masterpiece, you'll have to collect sales tax on those prices, and fork it over to Governor Cuomo's administration.

Washington state voters dumped the short-lived candy tax intended to make up some of the deficit and passed in June last November; it was really confusing. Kit Kats weren't candy (they had some flour in them) but Reese's Peanut Butter Cups were (boo!). Meanwhile, Kentucky has a similar tax provision.

Alabama tacks a dime's worth of tax onto the price of every deck of cards with "no more than 54 cards" in it. So if you want to escape that dime, find a manufacturer who packages its decks with 55 cards (try out that novelty "Iraqi most wanted deck," for example).

While, this last link has nothing to do with sales taxes, it does have to do with tax season, and deductiblity. James Maule, of the blog Mauled Again, discusses the deductibility of Halloween costumes, and indulges in some wonderfully painful puns along the way.

 

Law & Magic: A Collection of Essays Now Available

The book Law & Magic: A Collection of Essays made its debut at the AALS meeting in New Orleans. It's available at CAP's website (discount!) and also via amazon.com and bn.com.

The Haunted Pool Room

Just in time for Halloween, another haunted house story, but this haunted house story is one about a haunted pool room, called--what else--the Flying Saucer, located in Nashville, Tennessee. The pool room is a converted train station. Paranormal investigators are hot on the trail. Read more here.