mold question

[pegreg]

What is the name of your state? Ohio
My parents are selling their home of 36 years. Four weeks ago they accepted an offer from a buyer. The buyer's home inspector found mold on the roof sheathing in the attic. They hired a remediation company for $5200. They finished their work and closing was scheduled for the day after the final test report was due. Lo and behold they flunked the test. Mold company returned and did further remediation.

In the meantime the buyer said that they now want to have all levels of the house tested for mold, not just the attic. (All this obviously the result of flunking the first test). My parents refused this request, saying to the buyer that your inspector only found mold in the attic (albeit a visual inspection) and we will take care of the attic mold. That was the deal. My parents fear is what the additional testing may turn up.

The response from the buyer's broker (through my parent's real estate agent) was that if her client buys the house, moves in and is sickened by mold they'll sue. (The buyer's have a daughter who is supposedly sensitive to mold).

My parents response was fine - the deal is off / don't buy the house. My parent's real estate agent then went on to say that they will need to disclose that they refused the additional mold testing moving forward with trying to sell their house. This doesn't sound right to me. I told my parents - what is there to disclose? Keep in mind, my parents have live in this house for years, with know health problems due to mold. I also, told them that after they finally fix the attic mold problem, they aren't obligated to disclose that there was ever mold.

My question is:

1. Can my parents refuse the additional testing, not sell to this person, fix the attic mold (known) and not be obligated to disclose anything about mold?

[FlyingRon]

Your parents are free (probably based on the contract) to tell the existing buyers to close or drop the contract. Make up their minds.
Of course, whether that is a reasonable idea or not they will need to figure out for themselves.

It's not clear what caused the mold in the attic or what the remediation was, but it would seem that if you disclosed that (as they must) that the next buyer would certainly want to ask the same thing about a mold examination at the other levels.