Can a real estate agent or broker be liable for nondisclosure of information to a prospective buyer?

As this court stated in Holmes v. Summer, supra, 188 Cal.App.4th 1510, "'It is now settled in California that where the seller knows of facts materially affecting the value or desirability of the property which are known or accessible only to him and also knows that such facts are not known to, or within the reach of the diligent attention and observation of the buyer, the seller is under a duty to disclose them to the buyer. [Citations.]' [Citations.]" (Id. at pp. 1518-1519, italics added.) "When the seller's real estate agent or broker is also aware of such facts, 'he [or she] is under the same duty of disclosure.' [Citation.] A real estate agent or broker may be liable 'for mere nondisclosure since his [or her] conduct in the transaction amounts to a representation of the nonexistence of the facts which he has failed to disclose [citation].' [Citation.]" (Id. at p. 1519.) "[T]he main purposes of the rule . . . 'are to protect the buyer from the unethical broker and seller and to insure that the buyer is provided sufficient accurate information to make an informed decision whether to purchase.' [Citation.]" (Ibid.) For liability based on the nondisclosure of information to lie, "the information in question must be unknown to, or outside 'the diligent attention and observation of the buyer . . . .' [Citations.]" (Id. at p. 1520.)

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