Real Estate Agents in a Quandary Over Megan’s Law
For sale: Dream house with white picket fence, large backyard. Near outstanding schools. In good neighborhood, except for convicted child molester next door.
Megan’s Law, which requires public notification when a child molester, rapist or other convicted sex offender moves into a community, has real estate agents wondering whether they must disclose the presence of pedophiles to prospective home buyers.
Laurie Janik, an attorney for the National Assn. of Realtors in Chicago, says real estate agents in most states are looking for clarification wherever they can get it--from the government, lawyers, the insurance industry--to avoid legal liability.
“There is no necessarily right answer in a lot of these gray areas,” says Janik, whose organization represents 720,000 real estate agents nationally. In most cases, she says, the agents do not know where sex offenders live. “Then the issue is: Do they have any duty to find out?”
The industry is in a quandary. On one hand, agents depend on the commissions they make selling houses, and they represent owners who want the best prices for their properties. If an agent discloses that a sex offender lives nearby and the property value drops or potential buyers evaporate, the seller may sue.
On the other hand, if an agent representing a potential home buyer fails to mention that a convicted child molester lives in the area and the molester attacks a member of the new family, that family might also file suit.
Laws in Alaska, California and Virginia require real estate agents to advise home buyers--in writing--about local law enforcement agencies, databases or other sources where they can learn the whereabouts of sex offenders. The agents have won exemptions from any responsibility in Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, Minnesota, Nevada, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania.
In Connecticut, pending legislation would require agents to include on standard disclosure forms any resources that would help homeowners ferret out information on child molesters. Similar legislation has been proposed in other states.
Megan’s Law is named for 7-year-old Megan Kanka, a New Jersey girl who was raped and murdered in July 1994 by a convicted sex offender who lived across the street. Her parents didn’t know their neighbor was a pedophile and waged a national campaign to make public certain information on convicted sex offenders. The law’s requirements vary among states.
