What term describes the illegal act of failing to disclose property defects?

The term that best describes the illegal act of failing to disclose property defects is fraudulent misrepresentation. This legal concept refers to a situation where a party intentionally provides false information or fails to disclose material facts, which misleads another party during a transaction. In real estate, this can involve hiding defects that a reasonable buyer would want to know about and could influence their decision to purchase the property.

Fraudulent misrepresentation carries legal ramifications, as it not only involves an intention to deceive but also results in damages to the misled party. This is critical for maintaining transparency and integrity in real estate transactions.

While the other options may relate to issues of disclosure or misleading information, they don't capture the intentional deceit involved in failing to disclose property defects as specifically or robustly as fraudulent misrepresentation does. For example, negligent misrepresentation refers to situations where a false statement is made without due care, but it does not necessarily involve active concealment or intent to deceive. Concealment focuses more on the act of hiding information rather than misrepresenting it outright. Data omission might refer to the failure to provide necessary information, but it lacks the context of deception that defines fraudulent misrepresentation.