IMO that is the key on how deck construction issues are reported and relayed to your client.
And yes I find issues with decks 90% of the time.
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Not being up to current code doesn’t in itself mean its not safe or won’t hold up.
I’m more concerned with what appears to be insufficient & improper fasteners on the ledger attachment to the house.
In addition, it didn’t appear there was significant weight bearing on the deck where the ledger was attached to the house. It appears the deck was built with most of the weight bearing at the front of the deck above the posts.
As long as the ledger was properly secured to the home, I wouldn’t be concerned. Posts could be added at the rear to provide support although not necessary if ledger was properly attached.
My take: I would mention the deck ledger was not properly secured to the home with the proper fasteners, or spacing & would recommend a Qualified Deck contractor to further inspect & advise.
Seen it’s better days. At least put a cleat under it. LOL
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Daniel, thanks for sharing. I think you should explain each of the defects when you’re talking about decks and just combine them into one comment, like you did. I think what you wrote is pretty good, but I would stress the indirect support at the post to band connection. This is another common place of failure potential. This type of indirect connection is entirely dependent on the hardware bolts and can fail over time as the hardware rusts, the wood ages/splits, and compression/load starts to push down on these points. In your case the joists are cantilevered so it reduces some of the load there, but there are plenty of decks which are completely supported indirectly. You can see what happens in these situations as you look at the landing dropping in your pics. The effect is similar to ledger detachment. That landing could easily fail. By stressing the indirect support, the hope is that the deck contractor will change the design of the support by providing true direct support. Otherwise, I think it is easy for the contractor to just replace the damaged band and rebuild the deck in kind, which does not really address the problem. It also makes sure your client understands the difference between these two things (hopefully) so that the same situation is not just recreated with newer lumber. The idea is not just to repair in kind but to improve the design where the existing deck has failed. This solves the problem instead of recreating it.
I did stress that. The second comment talks about the band joist not having full bearing
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Can someone sum up this thread for me?
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Decks should be banned. 
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I thought it was a good narrative because you noted safety issues and recommended repair.
The in-between is “your style” which will vary from one inspector to another.
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Just the assault decks with high capacity seating.
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Daniel,
I think you did a good job identifying and explaining the major defects on that deck and staircase. There is no need to nit pick any of the numerous smaller issues because you got those major issues and that’s enough to justify your recommendation for a deck contractor to evaluate and repair/replace the deck in it’s entirety. 
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They banned decks while the house was constructed? 
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One safety issue is with the sliding doorway.
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They hacked into the vinyl corner board. Not good.
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The lack of fasteners at the end of the ledger board was my biggest concern. The other picture above shows the fasteners not installed in a staggered fashion.
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Interesting to comment on a ledger for a future deck that may or may not be installed. Easy enough to do but it falls into a weird category such as a basement stubbed for a bathroom, an expandable electrical panelboard, pre-piped radon system, carport that could be enclosed…you get the idea.
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I think it’s best to assume or error on the side of caution in this case for sure.
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I would comment on it as well. Not adequate to receive a deck without reinforcement as well as weathered material and susceptible to water intrusion.
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