Real Estate

A latent defect is a flaw that affects the quality of a sold item, which was not disclosed by the seller. The seller must guarantee that the item is free from such defects at the time of sale,  subject to certain exceptions. The seller must also provide the buyer with all necessary information to make an informed decision.

The latent defect must meet four conditions: it must be prior to the sale, affect the item's usefulness, be invisible during a normal inspection, and be unknown to the buyer. In the case of discovering a latent defect, the buyer must not carry out any repairs before reporting the defect, so as to give the seller the opportunity to inspect and repair the defect, subject to certain exceptions. 

Courts generally consider that a reasonable time to report a defect is between 6 and 12 months. If the seller is responsible for the latent defect, they must repair it, and the buyer can seek damages if the seller was aware of the defect.