It doesn’t matter if you are on the selling side or the buying side, full disclosure is always the best way to proceed and may even save you some of your hard-earned dollars and valuable time. As far as representing your investment as the seller/owner is concerned full disclosure in the beginning will always save you time and potential abatements. My experience is that the Buyer will always be willing to move forward when they are told of any hurdles in the beginning and the Buyer who walks away because of information that was disclosed will walk away when they are discovered during due diligence or even upon financing inspections.
Full disclosure will also keep you out of any expensive legal battles that are a pain in the ass no matter if you are right or wrong and it is always the right thing to do in today’s environment.
Some of the items that should be disclosed or have a maximum amount of information and understanding about are the type and condition of the roof, HVAC equipment, fire retrofit status, window age and quality, exterior brick condition, balcony condition above and below, metal flashings, walkways and drainage around the building environmental matters such as buried oil tanks, asbestos, mould, and many others.
Other items may include parking lot pavement, lobby, interior hallways including lighting& ventilation, underground parking & concrete condition, settlement, termites, elevator, interior suite condition, tenant profile and staff.
Allowing the buyer to inspect what he/she wants and setting reasonable timelines to resolve differences is always a good idea when you are working with a motivated Buyer. As a seller, you don’t want to oversell and promise what you can’t deliver. It is essential to the success of the sale that you control the negotiations by negotiating into an agreement of purchase and sale only what you can commit to.