If somebody willingly invites people in during an open house, what happens when there are damages to the property? Does the realtor showing the house have any responsibility?
A bit of background to elaborate...
I had an open house on my place yesterday. I was away from the property during the whole time. I then got a call from my realtor saying that there wasn't much interest. When I came back home after the open house (nobody was there), I ran into the following:
- Somebody had loosened one of the pipes under my sink, and water was leaking onto the floor
- On my white carpeting, it looks like somebody had spilled a can of orange soda
- The cabinet in my bathroom had been bent backwards in an odd angle, and now appears to be broken.
- I found a broken picture frame of mine in the trash can.
- And by far the most surprising, somebody took a dump on my bed. I kid you not.
I called my realtor and complained, but he said he has no idea what I'm talking about and is positive that didn't happen when he was there. My suspicion is that one of my neighbors (who is also trying to sell their place) came in during my open house to purposely sabotaged my home to make theirs look more desirable. But I have no proof at all. The police came out and took a look, but they said they had no definitive proof that any act of vandalism had been committed, and my realtor didn't take down everyone's name, so they couldn't and wouldn't go through the effort of tracking down more information.
So is this legally my fault because I let strangers into my house? Or does my realtor hold any sort of legal responsibility.