united-states real-estate wisconsin homeownership
When you sue a realtor, are you sueing the agent or the company?
<p>Long story short, a realtor that sold me a house failed to disclose some significant structural defects that had been communicated to her. I'm not really sure if this realtor is working <em>for</em> Coldwell Banker, or if she's an independent agent working <em>with</em> Coldwell Banker.</p>
<p>So my question - <em>if</em> I were to pursue legal action, would I hypothetically be sueing Coldwell Banker or would I be sueing this agent in particular? Or maybe it could be either depending on the situation?</p>
<p>Also, would the realtor likely be fired as a result of this?</p>

<p>Basically, you sue everybody that you can: the agency and the agent, and the seller of the seller breached their statutory duty (there is a form that sellers fill out). Your contract might contain specific language that addresses the question, but often state law says that the broker you are working with has a duty of care to you, regardless of his employment relationship with the firm. In two such relations which I personally know about, the broker was definitively &quot;in charge&quot;, and was not a mere employee of the (well known national) firms.</p>
<p>Note that the seller probably has a statutory obligation to disclose defects, the specific defects are set by state law.</p>
