The local chapters have to administer field training, charge for it, and keep the money.
InterNACHI provides the best inspection courses in the industry. BC regulators can approve them so that home inspector take them and use what they learned to help BC consumers, or BC regulators can fail to approve them, and thus harm BC consumers. Up to them to decide what their role is going to be as regulators.
If I was certified and licensed already I would certainly be involved in getting that ball rolling since I think this is a perfect opportunity for all InterNACHI members. Unfortunately, I am not.
I think, and correct me if I’m wrong but, wouldn’t it be beneficial to all involved if not only local chapters but, Nick Gromicko also, as head of InterNACHI facilitated this transition by contacting the B.C. Consumer protection himself and “pitched” the quality of education offered here??
As Nick pointed out, InterNACHI can take care of the courses on line, but there would have to be a group in place that could do the field training and also any proctored testing that the BC government would require.
Just because you may not feel you are qualified to conduct field training or testing does not mean that you can’t start a chapter. You don’t have to be licenced to start a chapter and if you can attract more experienced inspectors to your meetings because of speakers you line up, then maybe eventually your chapter will have members that can do training and testing. In the meantime, though you can get to meet other inspectors in your area and learn from each other.
**[https://postmediavancouversun2.files.wordpress.com/2016/02/logo-vancouver1.png](http://enews.mg2mail.com/q/pR3BmBmnDjsR6QE4AajmHXW0pGWnp7ZeVjuD_FTQjFU0WL5G4eDcEZ9-I)**
**BREAKING NEWS ALERT**
B.C.'s real estate industry will no longer be allowed to police itself under changes announced Wednesday by Premier Christy Clark. The B.C. government is removing the industry's ability to self-regulate, and will move regulation, penalties and rule-making away into a beefed-up government superintendent of real estate, Clark said.
Visit your best source for breaking news: www.vancouversun.com](http://www.vancouversun.com)
Self-regulation does not work in real estate.
http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/2016/07/05/bc-home-inspectors-want-cooling-off-period
**B.C. home inspectors want cooling-off period **
By Eric MacKenzie](http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/author/eric-mackenzie)
Tuesday, July 5, 2016 5:42:46 PDT PM
Home Inspectors Association BC estimates that only 10% of area homes are getting an inspection before purchase, compared to 75% just one year ago. Getty Images
Home inspections prior to purchase are down significantly as buyers compete in bidding wars by making subject-free offers — and B.C. inspectors say they’re concerned about the potential consequences to consumers.
Home Inspectors Association BC estimates that just 10% of homes sold in Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley are getting inspections prior to sale. That’s compared to 75% of homes one year ago.
“People aren’t getting good information on what they’re purchasing and they’re just sort of rolling the dice,” said HIABC president Vince Burnett.
That’s why the group is calling for the provincial government to establish a seven-day cooling-off period after an offer is accepted on all real estate transactions, much like what is already in place with pre-sale contracts applying to homes under construction.
“Not everybody wants a home inspection,” said Burnett. “But there are people who feel it is a valuable service who want to get a home inspection done, but they’re unable to because there are five offers behind them, and if they put that subject in, they’re not going to get it.
“That cooling-off period would give them a chance to have a home inspector come in and do the inspection, and if there were any significant repairs that need to be done … at least they’ll know about it.”
Burnett said a cooling-off period “shouldn’t hurt” the real estate market because its current furious pace is producing multiple offers on most properties.
Burnett acknowledged that the huge drop-off in home inspections means his industry has taken a hit, but said his organization “has always been for the consumer” and the call for a cooling-off period isn’t meant solely as a way to drum up business.
“It would help the home inspectors to be more busy,” he said. “But people should be able to have a home inspection when they want one and they should not have to worry about not getting a house because they’re requiring a home inspection.
“It would be nice if the government would step in and help these people out.”
Home-seller balks at $67K commission for realtor
CTV Vancouver
Published Thursday, June 30, 2016 6:34PM PDT
Vancouver homeowner Horst Weckwert believes in honest pay for an honest day’s work.
Unfortunately for local realtors, Weckwert doesn’t believe selling his Kitsilano teardown is worth a $67,000 commission, which is thousands more than the average Canadian salary.
“In this hot market on the west side, most agents sell their house in seven days,” Weckwert told CTV News. “I think it’s totally outrageous, so I decided to list it myself.”
Horst Weckwert is selling his Vancouver teardown on his own rather than pay an “outrageous” commission to a realtor. June 30, 2016. (CTV)
Weckwert purchased his home, located near 16th Avenue and MacDonald Street, for $300,000 a quarter-century ago. He’s now hoping to sell it for $2.4 million on his own.
Saving money on realtor fees hasn’t been simple, however. Weckwert posted his home on Craigslist weeks ago, but has yet to receive any purchase offers.
“I am not forced to sell, so I have the luxury of time,” he added.
Weckwert said one realtor quoted him the $67,000 price tag, but that’s a slightly higher commission than most charge.
Most commissions are seven per cent of the first $100,000 of a home sale and 2.5 per cent on the rest. Using that formula, a $1 million home would net a $29,500 commission, and a $2.4 million home would net $64,500.
Homes are also selling faster than they have in 11 years, staying on the market for an average of just 22 days in Vancouver. Paired with skyrocketing prices, it’s taking real estate agents less time to make a lot more money.
Real estate investor Pawan Johar of PNJ Property Group said he’s sold several homes this year, and decided to go with a discount brokerage to save some money.
“At the end of the day, in this market, houses nearly sell themselves,” Johar said.
That brokerage is OneFlatFee.ca, which promises to advertise homes on the Multiple Listing Service while still cutting thousands off customers’ commissions.
“You’re saving about 50 per cent in commissions,” said Mayur Arora, who launched the company six years ago.
Though discount brokerages remain a niche part of the real estate market, Arora said if Canada is anything like the U.S., he expects that to change soon.
“This is going to be the next biggest thing,” he said.
http://us5.campaign-archive1.com/?u=acda4235cd25a7066075b7c55&id=39b76ed96a&e=95521f7a96
Information Bulletin: How to become a Consumer Protection BC-approved trainer and/or evaluator.
*To BC licensed home inspectors,*
Effective, September 1, 2016, changes to BC’s home inspection law require [FONT=“Arial”]new home inspectors to meet requirements for practical training and a peer reviewed home inspection. If you, as an existing licensed home inspector, are interested in providing this training/evaluating to new home inspectors, you need to apply to Consumer Protection BC to become an approved trainer or approved evaluator. To find out how to become approved, please continue reading.
[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]Background[/FONT]
In March 2016, the BC government announced changes to the province’s Home Inspector Licensing Regulation. [FONT=“Arial”]These changes will come into effect on September 1, 2016. As part of those changes there will be some new rules and processes for you and for prospective home inspectors to follow. To read more about the new requirements for you as an existing home inspector, please read this important information bulletin](http://consumerprotectionbc.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=acda4235cd25a7066075b7c55&id=481aee7fa0&e=95521f7a96) on our website that was also mailed and emailed to you in April.
[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]The role of an approved trainer and evaluator[/FONT]
Effective September 1, 2016, to become a licensed home inspector applicants must have completed a home inspection educational program](http://consumerprotectionbc.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=acda4235cd25a7066075b7c55&id=3d2b27059e&e=95521f7a96) (approved by Consumer Protection BC) and a designated exam.
**
[FONT=Arial] [/FONT][FONT=Arial]Approved trainers[/FONT]**
After meeting this educational program requirement, prospective home inspectors must then accompany an approved trainer ‘[FONT=“Arial”]on home inspections’ for a total of 50 hours. As an approved trainer, you would be signing off their log book or letter stating the number of hours they have accompanied you.
[/FONT]
Approved evaluators
Once the home inspector licence applicant has completed the above they must then engage an approved evaluator to assess them on a trial home inspection. This evaluator is responsible for evaluating the inspection as well as the inspection report created by the licence applicant. If the applicant performs both successfully, the approved evaluator then provides the applicant with a peer review letter that attests to the fact that the applicant has the knowledge and ability necessary to conduct home inspections and prepare home inspection reports.
Consumer Protection BC must approve all trainers and/or evaluators. More information about the practical training requirements for new home inspectors, effective September 1, 2016, can be found by clicking here.](http://consumerprotectionbc.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=acda4235cd25a7066075b7c55&id=6871169639&e=95521f7a96)
[FONT=Arial]Practical training fees[/FONT]
Consumer Protection BC does not set practical training fees or make arrangements for practical training on behalf of a licence applicant, nor does the law prescribe any contract requirements between the licence applicant and the approved trainer or evaluator. Approved trainers and evaluators are expected to adhere to the expectations set out in Section 6 of the approved trainer and evaluator policy](http://consumerprotectionbc.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=acda4235cd25a7066075b7c55&id=f1db6cd254&e=95521f7a96).
**
[FONT=Arial] [/FONT][FONT=Arial]How to become a Consumer Protection BC-approved trainer or evaluator[/FONT]**
The steps you need to take to become an approved trainer or approved evaluator are explained in detail in our policy here](http://consumerprotectionbc.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=acda4235cd25a7066075b7c55&id=7e0541e12a&e=95521f7a96). Some highlights of the policy include the following information:
Please note that if you are already a trainer or evaluator with one of the home inspector associations you will still need to submit the information mentioned above to Consumer Protection BC. Once the required information has been submitted to us, and approved, we will post a list of approved trainers and evaluators on our website.
If you are curious about the practical training and peer review process for new home inspectors, you can find out more about it here](http://consumerprotectionbc.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=acda4235cd25a7066075b7c55&id=ecf209291f&e=95521f7a96).
Where to submit your information to become an approved trainer or evaluator:
You can submit the information to us via email, send it by fax to 250-920-7181, or by mail to PO Box 9244 Victoria, BC V8W 9J2.
**
[FONT=Arial] [/FONT]For more information:**
If you have questions, please email us at operations@consumerprotectionbc.ca. More information about Government’s changes to BC’s Home Inspector Licensing Regulation can be found here. Please continue to visit www.homeinspectionrightsbc.ca for updates on the changes to the law which come into effect on September 1, 2016.
Thank you.
Consumer Protection BC
**[FONT="Arial"]FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE new rules**](http://consumerprotectionbc.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=acda4235cd25a7066075b7c55&id=a101508571&e=95521f7a96)[/FONT]
[FONT=“Arial”]About Consumer Protection BC
*Consumer Protection BC is the regulator of a variety of business sectors and specific consumer transactions in the province. Our mandate is to license and inspect our regulated businesses, respond to consumer inquiries, investigate alleged violations of consumer protection laws, classify all general release motion pictures and provide information so consumers can self-assess the fairness of a transaction. Our vision is a province where all citizens of BC are empowered in their transactions as a result of rigorous and consistent business compliance and through the provision of solution-based information. For more information about our organization, please visit our corporate website at www.consumerprotectionbc.ca](http://consumerprotectionbc.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=acda4235cd25a7066075b7c55&id=81712496ce&e=95521f7a96) or read our 2015 Annual Report… *[/FONT]
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/mission-marijuana-grow-op-house-1.3686527
Mission couple struggling to sell suspected grow-op house
Officials suspect the house was being used to grow marijuana in 2010 under a previous owner
By Rafferty Baker, CBC News Posted: Jul 19, 2016 10:12 PM PT Last Updated: Jul 19, 2016 10:12 PM PT
Lea Gelbanks and his wife Flormina were ecstatic in May, when they received six offers on their Mission, B.C., home in the first 24 hours it was on the market.
They accepted an offer that was $93,000 above their listed price.
But the jubilation quickly turned to devastation when they learned that the home was once the site of a suspected marijuana grow operation, or grow-op.
“We couldn’t even talk. It was that gut-wrenching,” said Gelbanks, “The day before you’re high-fiving and super happy tears of joy go to tears of sorrow.”
“I mean you’ve gone from everything to nothing and it’s almost unbearable.”
Licensed grow-op in Mission, B.C., destroyed in fire
Underground grow-op found under fake horse paddock
Medical marijuana grow-ops will not be busted, say mayors
Lea and Flormina Gelbanks didn’t know their Mission home once had a suspected marijuana grow-op in it, when they purchased it two years ago. (Rafferty Baker/CBC)
The prospective buyer had done a simple search with the local fire hall to discover that a Public Safety Investigation Team (PSIT) had been to the home on Grebe Crescent in 2010 and found evidence of a possible grow-op. That was enough to sink the Gelbanks’ deal.
“When [the inspectors] came in there was no plants, no equipment, and there was no criminal charges laid, and yet this PSIT file still remains,” said Gelbanks, who obtained the 82-page report on his house through a freedom of information request.
PSIT files obtained through a freedom of information request show images of a suspected grow-op at Lea and Flormina Gelbanks’ home on grebe Crescent in Mission. Inspectors found marks left by containers in the basement, but no plants. (Rafferty Baker/CBC)
The PSIT program was only in effect in Mission from 2008 to 2011, when it became a local controversy and was eventually scrapped.
Other nearby municipalities had similar programs, where inspectors, often tipped off by high BC Hydro usage, checked out suspect homes. They generally didn’t lead to criminal charges, but instead left the homeowner with a list of defects requiring thorough remediation, as well as a hefty fine. In Mission, the fine was $4,900.
‘Health and safety of the future residents’
The inspection programs were promoted by officials in nearby Surrey, where Fire Chief Len Garis takes a particular interest in the issue. He has even authored academic papers about marijuana grow-op safety.
“The concerns in the community, of course, are that these properties that were once used for a grow op, if they were not remediated can — and most do — contain residual, latent issues associated with the health and safety of the future residents,” he said.
“The worst thing that can happen is you purchase that property and then the next day a neighbour shows up and says, ‘By the way did you know your property was used for a grow op?’ And then there’s some major concerns associated with that.”
Surrey Fire Chief Len Garis says there are inherent risks to public safety with any sizeable marijuana grow-op in a residential setting, regardless of legal status. (Rafferty Baker/CBC)
According to Garis, other cities like Richmond, Coquitlam, Pitt Meadows, Langley, Abbotsford, and Chilliwack have all tried similar programs. Many of them slowed down around 2011, when new federal regulations came in around medical marijuana.
“What we saw was fewer and fewer homes that were being used for illicit purposes and more and more that were licensed by Health Canada. It seemed like the numbers kind of exchanged places with each other,” said Garis of the situation in Surrey.
Despite the changing legal climate, Garis’s program in Surrey, called the Electrical Fire Safety Initiative, is still in force.
Records don’t die with the program
But while PSIT has been dismantled in Mission, the records haven’t gone away — even if there’s nothing at all wrong with the home.
“These records are available and they’re available for the public and the Realtors,” said Michael Boronowski, manager of civic engagement and corporate initiatives with the District of Mission.
Michael Boronowski, manager civic engagement and corporate initiatives with the District of Mission doesn’t think safety inspection records should be destroyed, even if the PSIT program was scrapped. (Rafferty Baker/CBC)
“Certainly in Mission it became a really controversial issue and I don’t know that it was handled really well … but still the records from that program, I don’t believe, should be just destroyed,” he said.
“It’s unfortunate there is a stigma attached to houses that have been fully remediated.”
‘It has to 100 per cent go away’
For Gelbanks, his current predicament seems anything but fair.
“It has to 100 per cent go away. That whole thing has to go away. You can’t discriminate for three years on these homes,” he said. “It’s not fair to us, it’s not fair to the home.”
“Something has to be done, there has to be a way of putting these homes on a scale of, ‘Yeah this was a minor one, this was a major one.’”
If a prospective buyer or owner makes a freedom of information request, they can learn some of the specifics of the inspection. But buyers who see there’s a PSIT file can more easily just scuttle the deal.
Homeowner Lea Gelbanks looks at part of his basement suite where officials say a suspected grow-op was discovered in 2010. (Rafferty Baker/CBC)
“I understand what they’re doing. They’re trying to keep everybody safe,” he said of the inspections.
“My biggest issue with it is, we’re stuck in that three-year window. What about all the other ones? What about all the ones that were full-blown grow shows — they went and painted the walls, covered the holes, sold the house?”
“Here we are with a home that’s absolutely gorgeous and we can’t sell it,” he said.
“The stress is — it’s becoming unbearable. I’m probably a little better than my wife. She’s taking it a lot worse. It’s not fair. It’s just not fair.”
Follow Rafferty Baker on Twitter: @raffertybaker](https://twitter.com/raffertybaker)