Real Estate Law Lessons from SpongeBob SquarePants | C.A.R. blog

Recently, I was watching SpongeBob SquarePants (SBSP) on TV. For those who don't know, SBSP is a cartoon about a talking?sponge who lives in a pineapple under the sea. His best friend is a talking starfish named Patrick who lives under a rock. In between the rock and the pineapple is a house lived in by another sea creature, Squidward. As I was watching, and thinking about my favorite episodes and characters, I realized that SBSP can teach us valuable lessons about real estate?law.

How so, you may ask? Real estate law and a talking sponge?

Here, I'll show you.

In one episode Squidward tries to sell his house. Now this is a difficult task since SBSP and Patrick are two of the most annoying, infantile, loud and obnoxious neighbors one can imagine having. Being a C.A.R attorney, I thought, ?Does Squidward have any obligation to warn a prospective purchaser of his or her impending doom?? Although you may have guessed the answer is, ?Yes,? do you know why?

Since 1987, most sellers of residential property containing 1-4 dwelling units in California have had an obligation to complete a statutory form called the Real Estate Transfer Disclosure Statement. Section II C 11 requires the seller to answer the question, Are you aware of neighborhood noise problems or other nuisances? It did not take long for the TDS form, and question C 11, to be tested in court. Nearly 20 years ago, a California Court of Appeal decided the case of Alexander v McKnight, 7 Cal. App. 4th 973.

In the McKnight case several property owners sued a neighbor who: used a chipper machine while illegally operating a tree trimming business on the property, held late-night basketball games, parked too many cars on the property, poured motor oil on his roof and constructed a two-story cabana in violation of the CCRs. All minor inconveniences compared to the activities of SBSP and Patrick. The California court held that a property owner would have to affirmatively answer question II C 11 when selling his house if the neighbor still occupied the adjacent property. The California court held the disclosure had to be made even if a trial court issued an injunction prohibiting the neighbor from continuing the obnoxious activities.

Although I don?t remember if the real estate agent that Squidward hired made any disclosure, or even knew of the antics of SBSP and Patrick, or if Squidward made any disclosure on his own - I do know that watching cartoons on TV has caused me to think about real estate and my job. And thus has provided fodder for this blog.

I wonder? does that mean I can write off the cost of my TV and cable bill as a business expense?

Tags: advice, disclosure, legal, real estate law, tds

Source: http://blog.car.org/2011/07/real-estate-law-lessons-from-spongebob-squarepants/

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