Question

My parents are in contract to sell their top floor condo on the upper east side. They entered contract last month and are scheduled to close next month. About a week ago (several weeks after they entered contract), the building installed some sort of HVAC machine on the roof that puts off a very loud, mechanical humming noise. It is on 24 hours a day and they are told it is permanent and there is... [more]

My parents are in contract to sell their top floor condo on the upper east side. They entered contract last month and are scheduled to close next month. About a week ago (several weeks after they entered contract), the building installed some sort of HVAC machine on the roof that puts off a very loud, mechanical humming noise. It is on 24 hours a day and they are told it is permanent and there is nothing the building can do to reduce the noise. It is very noticeable when they are in the apartment, no matter what room they are in. At the time they signed the contract, they (truthfully) represented that they had made no written noise complaints to their building’s management in the last two years. Although they have spoken to the management company on the phone last week to figure out what the noise is, they have put no noise complaint in writing and do not intend to do so in the future. Assuming it is true that the noise cannot be reduced or eliminated, are my parents under any obligation to disclose the noise to the buyer? Even if they have to re-make the same representation at closing, as long as they don’t make a written complaint about the noise, they can still re-make the representation truthfully at closing. Is there are risk for them in this? If the buyer discovers the problem before closing, can the buyer back out (and get his down payment back), or try to use it to renegotiate the price? When the buyer discovers the problem after closing, can the contract be cancelled after the fact? Can the buyer sue my parents for not disclosing the noise? Please keep in mind that there has technically been no change to the interior of the condo since the contract was signed. The only factor that changed was that a noisy machine was installed outside of my parent’s apartment after the contract was signed, which they had nothing to do with and no knowledge of before the fact. Thanks. [less]