Haunted addresses on record in Colorado
What Colorado requires
Colorado has a specific statute that protects sellers and real estate agents from liability for not volunteering that a property was the site of a death, felony, or other psychologically stigmatizing event — including alleged hauntings. If a buyer asks directly, however, guidance is consistent that the question must be answered honestly rather than misrepresented.
Colorado's stigmatized-property statute, Colo. Rev. Stat. § 38-35.5-101, says that facts or suspicions about circumstances on a property that could 'psychologically impact or stigmatize' it are not material facts a broker or salesperson has a duty to disclose, and no lawsuit can be based on failing to disclose them. The statute's own listed examples include a property being the site of a homicide, felony, or suicide, and cases where an occupant was suspected of having HIV or diagnosed with AIDS.
Colorado does not have a separate death-disclosure statute comparable to California's well-known three-year rule (Cal. Civil Code § 1710.2). Deaths on a property, regardless of cause or how long ago, fall under the same general stigmatized-property protection described above — sellers are not required to bring it up unprompted.
The 'ask rule' commonly cited for stigmatized property appears to apply in Colorado as well: while sellers and agents have no duty to volunteer stigma-related facts, secondary sources are consistent that they may not lie or misrepresent the answer if a buyer or their agent asks directly. A direct, dishonest answer can create liability separate from the non-disclosure protection the statute provides.
No Colorado case has reached the notoriety of New York's Stambovsky v. Ackley ('the haunted house case'). Colorado's approach is purely statutory rather than case-driven: the legislature addressed the question directly by excluding psychological-stigma facts, including alleged paranormal activity, from the categories of things a seller or agent must disclose.
General information, not legal advice. Laws change and turn on details — for a real decision, talk to a licensed professional in Colorado.
The Colorado record is waiting
No entries filed from Colorado yet. If something happened at an address you know, write it down — you may be the reason the next resident feels less alone at 3 AM.