Does my landlord have to inform me that there is a person living next doorwho has beenconvicted of aggravated sexual assault of a 14 year old girl?
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Does my landlord have to inform me that there is a person living next doorwho has beenconvicted of aggravated sexual assault of a 14 year old girl?
Asked on October 5, 2011 under Real Estate Law, Texas
Answers:
FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 13 years ago | Contributor
Good question. In every state in this country, a person selling or renting an item has an affirmative obligation to disclose all known facts about a property's condition that might affect its desirability or price paid for it. In your case, whether or not to rent a property if there is a convicted felon living in the complex.
The problem with your question is that once a person serves the penalty for a crime, he or she has paid the obligation for the crime owed society. If your state has a sex offender registration program like California does (Meagan's Law) one can type in an address online and registered sex offenders in that area will show.
If Texas has such a program, then your landlord in my opinion had no obligation to inform you of a possible registered sex offender in the complex before you rented. If there is no similar online access program in Texas, and if your landlord knew that there was a registered sex offender in the complex before you rented, then he most likely had an obligation to disclose this to you before you rented.
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