Well in the situation you point out the buyer and his agent have the responsibility of having the property inspected, if they signed off on it then they have no grounds to sue provided they also signed the property condition disclosure statement and cannot not prove the seller knowingly mislead them on it. As for when do your duties as listing agent finish...........never, you always want to keep in touch with the client and retain them and hopefully get referrals from them. After the home is sold and new buyers have moved in is usually when your official duties are done, but , as in your example, if there are problems after that point you should be there for them, if you did your job ethically and covered all your bases you have nothing to worry about, it is just a bit of a pain in the a## but your clients will love you for sticking with them. Thats my opinion.

As for when your duty ends, the promise of confidentiality which comes with agency lasts forever.

Tell the buyer to take it up with your lawyer. If you've done your proper disclosures you have nothing to worry about.  Let him sue, but promise him a good counter suit in return.

When I started in the business, my broker joked, "when you get your license, they stamp 'sue me' on your forehead". My takeaway was to keep good notes and maintain accurate records during the transaction.

That's the world we live in today, too many don't take responsibility and sue as recourse. Without the details of your transaction, it sounds like you provided the necessary disclosures, the buyer has conveniently forgotten what they signed off on.

I agree with Norm. Just because the Buyer is waving a lawsuit threat around doesn't mean that the listing agent has to "make it all right."

Our office has the benefit of having access to legal advice and have weekly discussions about these kind of matters. The usual response is; "have good documentation, disclose, sign off, disclose, disclose and keep up your E & O because you will get sued sometime."

As long as someone thinks they can get something for nothing, there will be "squeezes" put on us. If you're doing what you should be, stand your ground........and have a good lawyer available. ;-)