| |
News: Couple suing realtor for selling them house of murder
Member Since: 11/5/2009
Posts: 8,096
|
Couple suing realtor for selling them house of murder
Quote:
Eric and Sade-Lea Tekoniemi thought they had bought their dream house in Bowmanville last fall. But it turned into a house of nightmares when, soon afterward, they learned the home in the community east of Oshawa was the scene of a double murder 15 years before.
“I suffered panic attacks and am still on anxiety medication,” Sade-Lea Tekoniemi said on Monday. Eric Tekoniemi noted he also feels stress at work and is uneasy at home. And the uncertainty about his wife’s health bothers him.
Although the couple wanted to cancel the $253,000 sale immediately, their lawyer said it was too late because they were legally bound under the transaction’s terms. Now the Tekoniemis have sued the real-estate firm, an agent and former owners of the home for allegedly selling the split-level to them without revealing the stabbing murders.
Ron England, a paranoid schizophrenic, murdered his mother, Marian Johnston, 74, and stepdaughter, Jenny, 6, in the home on April 2, 1996. He stabbed his mother 34 times and his daughter 89 times. The girl lay on the floor with a knife embedded in her heart.
The Tekoniemis are seeking $450,000 in damages plus costs from Re/Max First Realty, agent Mary Roy and Arthur Hewer and Sharron Lindsay, the former home owners. None of these parties would talk about the case, which must be proven in court.
But the Real Estate Council of Ontario, which regulates the industry, issued a warning to Roy last month because she “deliberately withheld a material fact known to her” regarding the murders from the buyers, contrary to the Real Estate and Business Brokers Act. The decision followed a complaint by the Tekoniemis this year.
The couple say they want to sell the home but recover any depreciation in value from the defendants because they want proper disclosure to any future owners.
Source
|
What do you guys think? If you found your dream home, affordable and in your price range, would it matter to you if there was a murder over a decade ago?
|
|
|
|
Member Since: 9/27/2011
Posts: 2,459
|
Giving me American Horror Story teas
|
|
|
|
Member Since: 9/3/2011
Posts: 22,014
|
I'm pretty sure that realtors only need to disclose a death if it was within the past 3 years... I would be pretty creeped out if I moved into a murder house without knowing but I don't think they'll win, and $450,000 is way too much to ask for  it's not like they got harmed or anything.
Edit: Oh this is Canada. They probably still have similar rules
|
|
|
|
Member Since: 10/15/2011
Posts: 6,480
|
I could probably live with it...
|
|
|
|
Member Since: 5/22/2011
Posts: 21,227
|
They won't win, it was a case years ago so I don't see what the big deal is. My home is a former funeral parlour and I've never had one panic disorder living in it.
|
|
|
|
Member Since: 9/22/2011
Posts: 9,178
|
Honestly they should've done the research before they signed the papers. And besides it's not as if the murders occurred a week before they moved in, it was well over a decade ago.
While I can see why people would think that the realtor should've told them about the house's history, I don't see how it would make a difference. It's a grim detail from many years past and has no affect on the house now (don't bring up ghosts you peasants) aside from maybe scaring away just about anyone interested in buying the house.
|
|
|
|
Member Since: 2/16/2012
Posts: 10,807
|
Depends. It would be weird though. Although people bang in houses too so...
|
|
|
|
Member Since: 11/5/2009
Posts: 8,096
|
Quote:
Originally posted by Mezik
They won't win, it was a case years ago so I don't see what the big deal is. My home is a former funeral parlour and I've never had one panic disorder living in it.
|
Damn, you tough, cuz I know I would.
|
|
|
|
ATRL Senior Member
Member Since: 9/24/2009
Posts: 70,975
|
I'll run away
|
|
|
|
Member Since: 11/5/2009
Posts: 8,096
|
Quote:
The Toronto Sun
September 17, 1997, Wednesday, Final EDITION
TO DAD, GIRL WAS SATAN AND THOUGHT HE WAS MESSIAH WHEN HE KILLED DAUGHTER, 6, COURT TOLD
Paranoid schizophrenic Ron England believed he was the Messiah ridding the world of evil when he murdered his mother and six-year-old daughter, a psychiatrist says.
Dr. Ian Jacques told a coroner's inquest yesterday England still does not believe his daughter, Jenny, and her grandma, Marian Johnston, are dead.
Jacques said England - who'd sworn off medication treating his severe mental illness - was "almost functioning on auto-pilot and getting his instructions (to kill) from television."
England called 911 on April 2, 1996, to report he'd killed his mom and daughter at their Duke St. home in Bowmanville.
Marian Johnston, 79, was found slumped on her bed in pyjamas, housecoat and black boots. The former public health nurse, who'd helped England win supervised custody of Jenny over her biological parents, had been stabbed 34 times.
On the floor lay Jenny with a knife embedded in her heart. She'd been stabbed 89 times.
|
The power of the internet - you can find articles from over a decade ago 
|
|
|
|
Member Since: 11/5/2009
Posts: 8,096
|
Quote:
Originally posted by Razzle
I'll run away
|
You wouldn't stand a chance, sis
|
|
|
|
Member Since: 5/22/2011
Posts: 21,227
|
Quote:
Originally posted by Feather
Damn, you tough, cuz I know I would.
|
It was a funeral parlour in the 1930s, so it was such a long time ago it doesn't even effect me at all. 
|
|
|
|
Member Since: 5/7/2012
Posts: 41,067
|
I think I'd be okay living in a house where someone died naturally (like of old age) but not a house where somebody was murdered. If that makes any sense, which it probably doesn't 
|
|
|
|
Member Since: 4/30/2012
Posts: 16,573
|
I could never live there.
|
|
|
|
|
|
