Dot Connections

When it comes to the Broward County School Board's above-market-value
purchase of thirty acres of unusable wetlands from Southwest Ranches, the
Broward County School Board has no one to blame but itself.

Under Florida law, only in residential real estate transactions are sellers
required to disclose facts materially affecting the value of the property
which are not readily observable and are not known to the buyer. In
non-residential transactions, the law in Florida is "let the buyer beware."

In a non-residential real estate transaction in Florida, there is no duty of
disclosure. In reality, a buyer of non-residential land has no excuse for
relying on representations about the land made by the seller, much less the
seller's broker.

Perhaps the Florida legislature should look into making a law to impose a
duty of disclosure on the sellers of land to school boards and other
government entities in order to protect taxpayers from ill-advised real
estate purchases made by credulous politicians and staff.