Patent and latent — the line that matters
Alberta operates on caveat emptor, buyer beware. The buyer is expected to inspect and satisfy themselves about what they are buying, which is why a home inspection matters here.
- Patent defects are ones a buyer could reasonably discover by looking — the stained ceiling, the cracked window, the sloping floor. You are generally not obliged to point them out. That is what the inspection is for.
- Latent defects are hidden ones a buyer could not find on a reasonable inspection. Where one is known to you and makes the property dangerous or unfit to live in, the duty changes. That is the category the law treats seriously.
Two things override all of that. You cannot actively conceal a defect — painting over it, panelling across it, hiding it for a showing. And you cannot lie in answer to a direct question: answering falsely is a different legal problem than not volunteering.
What this looks like in practice
Alberta does not use the mandatory province-wide seller disclosure form some other provinces require, though a property condition statement may be used in a given transaction. That puts more weight on what is said, and written, around the deal.
Worth advice rather than a guess: repaired basement water, a former grow operation or remediation history, structural repairs, unpermitted work, a pending condominium special assessment, and anything you have claimed on insurance. Your REALTOR® also has disclosure obligations under Alberta’s real estate rules and cannot conceal a known material latent defect on your behalf.
Disclosing costs you a conversation and possibly a price adjustment. Not disclosing costs you a lawsuit after you have spent the money. Sellers regret the second constantly and the first almost never.
When to get a lawyer involved
This page is orientation, not legal advice, and disclosure is one of the few parts of selling where the specifics decide the answer. If you are weighing whether something must be disclosed, ask a real estate lawyer before the home is listed, not after an offer arrives. Related: the Real Property Report and compliance stamp, where unpermitted structures usually surface.
Material latent defects — the practical test
"Material latent defect" is the phrase that does the work. Break it into the questions a lawyer will actually put to you about a specific problem:
- Is it hidden — something a buyer would not find on a reasonable inspection?
- Do you know about it, or have you been told about it?
- Does it affect the property's use, safety or habitability, or would a buyer who knew have paid differently?
- Could it be shown that you knew — an invoice, a claim, a permit, a contractor who remembers?
Where those line up, treat it as disclosable and get advice rather than making the call yourself. The ones that keep coming up in Calgary: a foundation crack repaired and then covered by finished wall, a sump pump installed after a flood, a leak fixed with no paper trail, an unpermitted suite, a condominium special assessment you know is coming.
How it is recorded matters as much as whether you say it. Put it in writing before the offer — on a property condition statement, in the listing, or as a term in the contract. "I mentioned it during a showing" is not evidence, and it is the version sellers most often rely on.
A specific problem on a specific property is a question for a real estate lawyer, before the home is listed. See the pre-listing prep playbook.
Mould, water damage and unpermitted work
These three account for most of the disclosure questions we get asked, and they behave differently.
Past water damage. Once a repair is behind drywall, the evidence a buyer could have found is gone — which is what moves it into the hidden category. The strong position is documentation: invoices, the remediation report, the insurance claim record, any engineering letter. Proof of a proper fix beats an inspector finding a moisture reading nobody mentioned.
Mould. Visible mould in a basement corner is something a buyer can see. Mould you know about behind a wall, in a crawlspace or the attic — and anything painted or panelled over — is the category that causes trouble. Health Canada does not recommend air testing to identify mould or its species; its guidance is to find and fix the moisture source and clean visible or concealed growth, because mould returns until the cause is solved (Health Canada). For a seller, the fix and its paperwork are what is worth having.
Unpermitted work. A developed basement, a suite, a deck, a garage, or electrical and plumbing work done without permits surfaces in three predictable places: the home inspection, the Real Property Report compliance review, and the buyer's lender or insurer. Never let a listing call a suite legal unless it is — suite legality has a specific meaning here. See also the RPR and its compliance stamp.
A death in the home, and other stigma questions
Stigma questions — a death in the home, a crime that happened there, a former grow operation, a reputed haunting — sit differently from physical defects, because they concern the property's reputation rather than its condition. Alberta's buyer-beware framework is built around defects in the property itself, and how far it reaches into stigma turns on the facts.
We are not going to give you a rule, because there is not a clean one and getting it wrong is expensive. What we will say:
- A direct question changes everything. You cannot answer a buyer's direct question untruthfully on any subject. If you are asked, the honest answer and a refusal to answer are the two options, and the second has consequences worth understanding in advance.
- Some stigma has a physical tail. A former grow operation or drug lab is not only reputation — it is remediation history, air quality, possibly a municipal order, and often a lender and insurer question. That part is condition.
- Take it to a real estate lawyer before you list, with the facts and the dates, rather than after an offer arrives.
- Tell your REALTOR®. We have obligations under Alberta's real estate rules and cannot conceal a known material latent defect on your behalf. You tell us, the lawyer decides what goes where, and nobody improvises at the offer table.
Related: inherited property and probate sales.