As a buyer's agent, should I be verifying compliance and legal use myself?

As a buyer's agent, should I be verifying compliance and legal use myself?

Real Estate Agent · CA · Member since 2026 · 33 posts · 8 votes

Honest question for other agents, because I might be making my own life harder than it needs to be.


I'm representing a buyer on a rural property and it hit me that everything I know about whether the place is compliant and legally used came from the seller's side. The seller disclosure says the solar was permitted, the second unit is legal, the well is fine. I passed all of that on to my buyer as if it were fact. I had no idea whether any of it was true.

So I went and checked. County permit portal, parcel record, hazard maps, tax roll, recorded deeds, then matched each fact against the statute or ordinance it triggers. Most of an evening across six or seven county and state websites, each with its own quirks. Some of what the seller said held up. Some of it did not: a permit that was issued but never finaled, a use the zoning does not plainly allow.

2 questions:

  • Is this normal? Do you rely on the seller's disclosure and let the inspector, title and appraiser catch the rest, or do you verify compliance and legal use yourself before your buyer commits?

  • Am I being overly concerned? Where do you draw the line between what a buyer's agent should know and what gets passed to someone else?

Not looking for a lecture on disclosure law. Looking for how working buyer's agents actually handle this day to day.

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Specialist · I give advice - [email protected] - I focus on states where investing is profitable, reasonably safe & secure · Member since 2026 · 106 posts · 29 votes
15h
Quote from @Adrian Teo:

Honest question for other agents, because I might be making my own life harder than it needs to be.


I'm representing a buyer on a rural property and it hit me that everything I know about whether the place is compliant and legally used came from the seller's side. The seller disclosure says the solar was permitted, the second unit is legal, the well is fine. I passed all of that on to my buyer as if it were fact. I had no idea whether any of it was true.

So I went and checked. County permit portal, parcel record, hazard maps, tax roll, recorded deeds, then matched each fact against the statute or ordinance it triggers. Most of an evening across six or seven county and state websites, each with its own quirks. Some of what the seller said held up. Some of it did not: a permit that was issued but never finaled, a use the zoning does not plainly allow.

2 questions:

  • Is this normal? Do you rely on the seller's disclosure and let the inspector, title and appraiser catch the rest, or do you verify compliance and legal use yourself before your buyer commits?

  • Am I being overly concerned? Where do you draw the line between what a buyer's agent should know and what gets passed to someone else?

Not looking for a lecture on disclosure law. Looking for how working buyer's agents actually handle this day to day.

Well, if I hired you to find me a property I would expect you've done that. Later, if there was a problem and you hadn't done . . . that it would be a problem

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  • Specialist · I give advice - [email protected] - I focus on states where investing is profitable, reasonably safe & secure · Member since 2026 · 106 posts · 29 votes
    15h
    Quote from @Adrian Teo:

    Honest question for other agents, because I might be making my own life harder than it needs to be.


    I'm representing a buyer on a rural property and it hit me that everything I know about whether the place is compliant and legally used came from the seller's side. The seller disclosure says the solar was permitted, the second unit is legal, the well is fine. I passed all of that on to my buyer as if it were fact. I had no idea whether any of it was true.

    So I went and checked. County permit portal, parcel record, hazard maps, tax roll, recorded deeds, then matched each fact against the statute or ordinance it triggers. Most of an evening across six or seven county and state websites, each with its own quirks. Some of what the seller said held up. Some of it did not: a permit that was issued but never finaled, a use the zoning does not plainly allow.

    2 questions:

    • Is this normal? Do you rely on the seller's disclosure and let the inspector, title and appraiser catch the rest, or do you verify compliance and legal use yourself before your buyer commits?

    • Am I being overly concerned? Where do you draw the line between what a buyer's agent should know and what gets passed to someone else?

    Not looking for a lecture on disclosure law. Looking for how working buyer's agents actually handle this day to day.

    Well, if I hired you to find me a property I would expect you've done that. Later, if there was a problem and you hadn't done . . . that it would be a problem

    • Real Estate Agent · CA · Member since 2026 · 33 posts · 8 votes
      12h

      agree that's what i'm thinking too. but a lot of it should be covered by the TDS. in my market, it seems the agents just rely on their general knowledge and what the seller discloses. not anything more.

  • Honolulu, HI · Member since 2008 · 3k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    13h

    If you are the Broker, it's up to you but not a great idea. Are you expert in any of those areas? Certainly some are common, but for example a well? I'm recommending my client either get it tested or request recent testing info from seller. If you are working under a Broker, ask your Broker. His neck is on the line for your foul-ups.

    • Real Estate Agent · CA · Member since 2026 · 33 posts · 8 votes
      12h

      yes we have the results from the seller. but how will we know if it's up to code or not? home inspector can provide some perspective on this, but beyond the build codes, the other things like permits etc is out of their hand.

  • Rental Property Investor · Malvern, PA · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 936 votes
    11h

    This is a great example of how an agent can add value. You are adding value. You need to make sure you aren't misleading your client if you aren't really sure of what you are doing.

    Consider 2 agents:

    1. Here's a bunch of stuff from the seller. I don't know what any of it means. Read it and do something appropriate if you think something should be done.

    2. I stayed up all night researching the validity of this seller info. Here's what I found and what I recommend you do next...

    Clearly #1 is worthless. #2 Is great if the analysis is accurate. Be careful you don't set yourself up with liability if you aren't accurate. Reviewing permits is easy and you can always call the municipality with questions. Vouching for a job done right is very risky if you don't have a background for it.

    You can build a great reputation truly helping your client as in #2, but you will work a lot harder than agent #1s. Hopefully, it pays off with a lot of referrals.

    • Real Estate Agent · CA · Member since 2026 · 33 posts · 8 votes
      9h

      Thanks James, your comment makes sense, and that's exactly what I'm trying to achieve with these research.

      It's not so much analysis that I'm doing, but just fact-finding before it becomes a deal-breaker during escrow. Just want to frontload these issues, and perhaps even find an angle for leverage in negotiations.

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