During a home inspection the real estate agent asked the inspector to omit an electrical issue found during the inspection since it could be very expensive to have repaired and may affect the selling price or even hinder the sell. The inspector has two options: 1. Do as the real estate agent asks and omit the issue, or 2. Explain to the real estate agent that it would be unethical and go against the code of conduct and report the issue in the report anyway.
There is no choice, if an electrical issue is found during an inspection using the Standards of Practice, then it must be included in the report. It would be unethical to do otherwise.
Home Inspector Ethics: Why Not Pay to Be on Brokers’ Lists? This was an interesting article and it probably happens more times than reported. Ethically and in the public eye this looks bad. To the consumer this may look like you are “paying off” the broker to get on his/her list. This could result in the Inspector being influenced by the Broker and strong armed, if the Inspector doesn’t produce a report that the Broker is happy with the inspector get defamed or on the “do not use” list. It is important that the inspector stay as neutral as possible and hard and fair work will help them get work more than “paying someone” to get the work.
The overwhelming majority of complaints against home inspectors is because the client did not understand the limited scope of a home inspection. To help with awareness and also possible legal issues, the inspector should include a link to the Standards of Practice, https://www.nachi.org/sop.htm, on their website and also use the InterNACHI Agreement which makes it clear that the inspection will be performed according to the InterNACHI’s SOP. Doing these two things and educating clients on the SOP scope will reduce issues and help if issues do arise since the client was informed twice of the limits of the inspection.
There have been instances where a homeowner will ask me at the end of an inspection about what I have found. I always find it awkward because after all it is their home. But my obligation is ultimately to the client. I usually respond by saying something along the lines of, “I am not able to share the information with anyone but the buyer, however if they decide they want to share that information with you I will be more than happy to.” Homeowners more times than not take that answer fairly well.
The article I studied was titled, “Can a Real Estate Agent Sign the Home Inspection Agreement on Behalf of the Client?” I was surprised to find that it is actually acceptable to have anyone sign the contract other than someone directly related to the purchase of the home. I have always assumed that it would require a power of attorney to make it binding. Good to know. But I think I’ll still rely on the signature of a client.
A home inspector should all ways be careful of the language he/she uses in their inspection report, such as “no visible evidence”. a statement like this could leave you open to a lawsuit that you could lose just based on the wording in your report. Instead, you should use words like "I did not observe any indications of a leaking roof or whatever the defect is. This statement is better for the inspector because it is hard to prove what the inspector observed on the day of inspection.
Given the health concerns of many of our customers I can imagine a situation in which a customer wants a member to repeatedly re-apply their solution beyond what is actually beneficial. The member in this case should complete a thorough job but also defer in areas that go beyond their scope of work.
It is important to provide your hypothesis, scope of work, solution process, and terms to a client. Providing this in your quote is the best way to go about it so everything can be agreed to up front before services are provided.
Opon the inspection of the home, I noticed the electrical wires were out dated and very dangerous to both the homeowners and anyone else that is staying in the home. I notified the homeowners that during my inspection I noticed that the electrical is not to code and dangerous. I insisted the homeowners that they should notify the buyers and realtor of the situation and they said that I should just skip over it and quote no one has to know. At this point I came to the conclusion that the situation is dangerous so I went ahead and notified the realtor of the buyers for the safety of the home owners and the possible new buyers of the home.
Internachi inspectors are greatly encouraged to do a walk through agreement before they perform the inspection. The walk through agreement includes such things as defining the scope of the inspection, the fee and when the payment is due. provisions for cost of repairs, gaurentee of payment from the clients. A walk through agreement is a great thing to do before performing any type of inspection.
As someone who is new to the industry, if someone would say “go easy” on the roof it would automatically cause me to pay even closer attention to the the roof. I would assume this would happen often because the seller-homeowner is naturally nervous about a roof that may show some age to it.
A buyer’s agent could attempt to manipulate an inspector on the state of a system or component. He/she could down play structural issues on a foundation in an attempt to push a sale through. A home inspector could handle this by giving a thorough and honest report on the foundation. Also recommending an expert to inspect the foundation as well. It is important to the Internachi standards as well as the community to give an honest inspection to the best of your ability.
I read the article on “Doing Damage During an Inspection: It’s Your Job”. I had an personal experience with the house I owned and sold that related to this article. I came home after the buyers inspection and noticed that the bathtub spout diverter handle was broken. Immediately I became upset and I examined it further and came to the realization that it had become deteriorated and it had a weak point. I took a deep breath and let the issue go. I did notice that there was no mention of this defect on the report and that there was not a note from the inspector explaining what happened. Thank goodness that it was nothing serious I had said to myself. I feel that our duty is to try to discover the defect before the our clients do after the home purchase. We as inspectors undertake this task to make the client aware of they are walking into.
In the article “Easy steps that help home inspectors avoid lawsuits” I learned today something as simple add taking 3 pictures of the water meter at different times can help you avoid lawsuits concerning water leaks. By doing so it can show water usage to be indicative of not showing leaks during the time of inspection.
The listing agent asked me to give him some information about the report after I completed the home inspection. I knew that the home inspection was for the client, and not for the listing agent. I would say that I was sorry and that it was not my place to disclose any information, in order to do right by my client and to adhere to the SOPs of InterNACHI.
I read the article “Easy Steps That Help Home Inspectors Avoid Lawsuits”, and it really opened my eyes to the various ways home inspectors can be held liable and sued. Once I start my business, I will definitely make my business an LLC in order to have limited liability against me personally and have the liability be put on the company.
While do a home inspection I had a seller come up to me and say that he wanted me to go easy on the roofs condition, I did not reply to him and continued on my inspection. When I wrote my report I gave my client the information on how I saw the roof so he would have the proper information.
I found out the a real-estate agent can sign an inspection agreement only if they are a authorized agent, the inspector should have the agent write authorized agent under the agents signature. The inspector should ask to see the written contract, If no such contract can be produced the inspector should try to get a hold of the client by phone or e-mail to make sure the agent is authorized to sign the agreement.
I am not a professional roofer, but as a certified home inspector it is in the interest of the client to provide the absolute unbiased observations in a report. Every note and comment written in the following report is to inform the client of the visual defects that may cause potential issues to the structure in the future. Though every defect is not be possible to report, everything observed at the time of inspection will be reported upon and it is recommended to hire a professional roofer prior to closing for any further in-depth evaluation of the roof system.
“No visible evidence” maybe used against a home inspector, in court, as a client may interpret that a particular defect does not exist or that the “evidence” was visible during the inspection. As stated by the article, written by Nick Gromicko, it is best say I did not observe any indications of [insert defect] during my inspection, to protect the home inspector since the inspector can only report on what was visibly seen at that current time.