Nick…You are before the licensing board in Florida. You have been called to prove that you provided to me a list of everything that you are going to exclude from the inspection I hired you to do. What do you plan to show the licensing board to prove that you provided me with a list of everything that you are excluding from the inspection.
If you show them a link, they will say to you “How do I know that this information that I am looking at, today, has not changed since the date of the inspection 11 months ago?” and you will offer, as proof …what???
Nick,
I have a link on my website, I e mail a copy to my clients, and bring a spare copy to the inspection.
As Jim noted, a link is not the same thing as a document.
I also put everything together, and I’ll probably number the pages 1 of 9, 2 of 9, etc.,just to make sure it is all one document.
That way, everything required by the State is in one document.
If I were to end up in court, a Judge would take a look at the agreement and more than likely, dismiss the case, which, if it ever came down to it, I could file a motion to dismiss pro se.
What do you mean by that? Are you saying you bring them a spare copy of the SOP to show them? A spare copy to give them?
If you are worried about proving the SOP hasn’t changed since you did the inspection in some material way that affects your legal defense negatively… shouldn’t you first be worried about the proving that the client got a copy of the SOP at all? So do you make them sign the SOP? What good is that if they keep (or worse, throw away) the spare, signed copy?
Do you need the agreement and SOP in one printed brochure? Would that be useful?
If I were in Florida, I would simply include a statement on my PIA for the client to initial stating “I have been provided a complete description of the inspection process, to include a list of all limitations and exclusions, and fully understand them.” or words to that effect.
If that information was provided to them electronically or in hard copy, it would not matter since the law does not specify.
Actully Ted, I thought it to be an excellant thread. Although I don’t need to be concerned about the FL. requirement, it does touch on business practices in general for all areas.
I carry a spare copy of the entire document in the event that either they didn’t bother to read the one I sent them, forgot to bring it or any other circumstance.
The first thing I do is ask them for the signed agreement and inform them that a copy will be included in their report.
If they don’t have it, I whip out the spare and have them read and sign it. Then we do the inspection.
There was a post on here awhile back and I have heard of other instances where the Client wanted their money back or some thing else because they were not made aware of the limitations of the inspection. I try to be upfront abut everything that goes on with regards to the inspection process.
That’s all well and good but how about the times that you never see the client? The last three inspections I did the client was out of state and the last one neither agent was available. That’s why I’ve been using the on-line agreement system. OK, so maybe in Florida’s case it needs a few tweaks, I’m thinking this thread has accomplished that.
As I said, I can e mail the client the document and they can send it back to me. When I send it to them, everything is filled out. All they have to do is read and sign.
What do you do to comply with the part about supplying the buyer the things we do not do??? This only addresses the license and contract/agreement part.
I am and have for the past few weeks emailed the client a copy of the license, the agreement and the SOP. They have to get it back to me before the inspection if they are not going to attend. If they attend the inspection the agreement has the date I sent the email and simply says they have reviewed the information in advance and agreed to the terms and conditions, I have to modify my website ASAP to make a response.
But in all reality I have serious doubts about how legal that is. Somebody could show up at a trial and say his six year old son sent it back.
e) At the conclusion of the home inspection, a home inspector shall submit a written report, which can be in electronic format (including electronic signature),
The NACHI online agreement only allows basic typing. There are no editing features…bold, underline etc.and you can not copy/paste into the agreement.
If the agreement had these features it would solve a lot of problems!
Update…my mistake…you can copy and paste…now how to get a copy of the license in the document?