I’ve gotten quite a few of these phone calls over the years. I say the same thing you said. Frankly, not my concern. If my client wants to take it up with the listing agent, then not my concern either. I have way better things to do than spend time fighting this.
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Yeah. Whether it be right or wrong - there’s not too much you can do about the report being passed around, as it is a common occurrence (especially if it’s a printed or printable report).
With that said, if some other buyer contacts me with questions about a report - I give them the standard answer (plus a little extra warning). “The information gathered during the inspection and presented in the report are intended for my contracted client only, and should not be relied upon by anyone else for any reason - as the report MAY have limitations or omissions as agreed upon with my actual client”.
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In California, it’s law the listing agent has to disclose any previous known reports.
I call it free advertising.
Sure, we lose a few inspections that way, but we also gain a lot of inspections from people who see our reports and want the same level of service for themselves.
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Austin,
I disagree with some of by fellow home inspectors. You own the report. You did not give permission to the Realtor to use your work. You should have some copy right information in the report. This is what I use " This report has been prepared for the sole and exclusive use of the client indicated above and is limited to an impartial opinion which is not a warranty that the items inspected are defect-free, or that latent or concealed defects may exist as of the date of this inspection, or which may have existed in the past or may exist in the future. The report is limited to the components of the property which were visible to the inspector on the date of the inspection and his opinion of their condition at the time of the inspection. This report excludes any hidden moisture penetration and damage within the wall cavities. Nonintrusive inspection. All rights reserved, report is property of Kidwell Home Inspection, Inc.".
This has happened to our company once… I sent the Realtor, Broker a “mean letter”, then we made a formal complaint with the Realtor license board. However, the Realtor, office blow us off and still used our report for marketing (on-line). We then filed a claim in the small claims court. With copy right violation, you can sue for 4 times the value. We won both the lawsuit and Realtor board ethics violation. Stand up for what’s right.
Keep the faith,
John
Indianapolis, IN
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Here in NM, the Listing agent only gets snippets of the report that the Selling agent requests as repairs so not sure how much report the Listing agent or sellers has? Selling agent has full report and should move on with client and find another house as its the buyers property!
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Just an update. My client’s agent is having the seller’s agent pay my client the money she paid for the inspection for giving out her entire report without permission.
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Damn beat me to it!! I was going to say to suggest that to your client.
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That’s exactly my thought! Keep it simple as a pimple!! Ha !!
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Once the seller or seller’s agent sees the report, it becomes an item of disclosure. It’s good to understand that. That said, I do not submit home inspection reports to the seller or seller’s agent.
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Slip a section into every report that says:
“This report is the property of the client who paid me to generate it. Home conditions can change quickly. If you are reading this and you are not my client, you should be SUSPICIOUS about why someone gave you an OLD report that you CAN’T rely on. My advice is that you hire me to do a fresh inspection for you. Since I’m already familiar with the home, your new report will have the advantage of me having inspected it twice. We’ll do a thorough inspection of the current state of your home and provide you with report that is legally yours to rely upon.”
Always put it on the same page of your report - page 2 or last page or whatever.
Then when someone who isn’t your client asks you to review the report, direct them to that page and ask them to read it first and to then call you back.
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I have this on every page of every report I deliver.
If someone gives the report away it’s obviously out of my hands, and if they call wanting information about the report, I simply tell that that per state law I am not allowed to discuss my findings without written permission from my client.
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