Do You Have to Disclose a Haunted House When Selling in the UK?
Selling a haunted house: what do buyers need to know?
The BBC’s Bafta-nominated comedy Ghosts was such a hit that it has spawned its own feature film. The Ghosts: The Possession of Button House, launches in cinemas on 23rd October 2026 – just in time for Halloween.
If your mansion house is haunted
If you’re unfamiliar with the premise, Ghosts features a gang of needy ghouls who haunt a countryside mansion. Each has met a quirky death, brought to life by many of the actors from the children’s show, Horrible Histories.
The twist? A young couple inherit the mansion. One (Alison) can see and interact with the ghosts. The other (Mike) is completely oblivious. The series documents how the ghosts from the past manifest themselves into the present, often to hilarious effect.
The film’s launch got the Viewber team thinking about the relationship between property for sale and the paranormal.
Material Information matters
One question repeatedly crops up around this time of year and that’s whether you need to disclose if your house is haunted when it comes to selling. The matter has become more important since the introduction of Material Information.
Material Information is key facts and details about a property for sale, published or made available when a property launches to market. The details help potential purchasers make a fully-informed decision on whether to book a viewing or make an offer.
If a successful buyer later finds out the seller missed out vital information that would have made them reject the property, this could be construed as a consumer falsehood under the Misrepresentation Act 1967.
For example, if the seller chose to hold back information about previous flooding, and the property flooded after the new owner moved in, the buyer could pursue financial compensation or even mount a Contract Rescission and ask for the transaction to be reversed.
In the spirit of good business
So where do ghosts sit in the property sale story? The crux of the matter is there is no scientific proof that ghosts exist. Yes, there are plenty of anecdotes, personal sightings and apparitions ‘caught’ on camera but in the eyes of the law, ghosts are not a consideration.
The selling requirements back this up. There is no specific requirement relating to ghosts, poltergeists, orbs or demons under current Material Information requirements. Instead, material information concerns information an average consumer needs to make an informed transactional decision.
Disclosure is also required when sellers fill out their TA6 property information form. There is where sellers have to say if they’re in a dispute with a neighbour, reveal any major alterations and detail whether there’s Japanese Knotweed at the property. There are no questions about ghosts.
That doesn’t mean ghosts won’t become an issue. Material Information, the Misrepresentation Act 1967 and the TA6 form primarily tackle disclosure that affects the value of property.
Buyers can be ghost busters
Ghosts are a cultural spectre that fall outside conveyancing yet there are grey areas. Our property system relies on a caveat emptor basis – ‘let the buyer beware’. That means the emphasis remains on the buyer to investigate the property.
Google searches will quickly reveal if anyone notable has ever died at the property, whether it was linked with unfortunate events (more on this later) or whether past owners have ever gone public about ghosts in their home.
If you think the latter is a ludicrous notion, you’ve only got to look at 2025 for evidence. The sale of a Grade II listed mansion was ‘sabotaged’ in the most unlikely way. The previous resident was the singer, Adele. During an interview, she said about her home: “This bit is all quite scary, really. I’m not rattling around here on my own. It gives me the creeps.”
When she moved out and the owner tried to sell, no offers were made. The lack of interest was pinned on Adele’s comments.
If there are spooky connections and a buyer directly asks if the home is haunted, the seller should answer honestly. Of course, it’s not an issue if the buyer doesn’t believe in ghosts but some people would be put off by their presence (or feel resident spirits devalue the property).
Morbid fascination
In the same vein as ghosts are macabre incidents. It’s an issue raised so frequently that Warwickshire County Council Trading Standards Service, in partnership with The Property Ombudsman and Propertymark, has issued the cheerily entitled document Assured Advice 37: Violent deaths and paedophiles. It covers the issue of disclosing if there has been a murder or suicide at a property for sale, or whether the vendor is a convicted criminal.
The conclusion? It’s still a grey area and approaches are worked out on a case-by-case basis. In the past, National Trading Standards has said ‘notable events at the property or unusual features such as a recent suicide or murder, or if the vendor is a convicted paedophile’ can constitute Material Information but historic events may not be worthy of disclosing.
As a point of note, Material Information now falls under The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCCA), and is no longer overseen by National Trading Standards.
If any gruesome events that took place at the property are still in the public realm, or are readily discussed, it’s best to be upfront – especially in the age of the internet. The aforementioned advice document revealed one estate agent’s clever approach to marketing a home with an unsavoury past. They used this phrasing on the listing: ‘Buyers are kindly asked to research the history of this property or enquire with the marketing agent prior to viewings.’
Visit on your behalf this Halloween
Not every house sale is straightforward and neither is the law. Ghosts? Grisly murders? While there is no specific question regarding these aspects during the sales or conveyancing process, sellers must answer truthfully when asked about them. Viewber’s advice? Don’t hide any skeletons in your cupboard.
The Viewber network is fully operational this Halloween – even though it’s a Saturday. Send a Viewber on your behalf this 31st October and you’ll avoid anything that might go bump on the night.
