Duties of Home Inspectors

Anyone considering the purchase of a home should employ a licensed home inspector. It is essential, however, to keep in mind the inspector’s proper role. A purchaser can and should expect the home inspector to meet professional standards of conduct, to issue a report with specific types of information, and to fulfill other important duties. However, a home inspector is neither able, nor required, to guaranty the condition of property and is, in fact, prohibited from providing certain types of information to the prospective purchaser. Understanding the home inspector’s duties enables a prospective purchaser to better understand the risk of going forward with the purchase and to focus his or her efforts on gathering from other sources, including the broker or seller, information not provided by the home inspection.

What your home inspector must provide:

A written contract: The inspector must enter into a written contract for services with the client and provide the client a copy of that contract.

Loyalty to the client: A home inspector owes a duty of undivided loyalty to his client. This general duty of loyalty underlies a number of specific requirements. For example, the inspector may not accept compensation from more than one interested party for any service unless the inspector obtains the consent of all parties to the transaction. Similarly, the inspector may not accept commissions or allowances from anyone other than the client in connection with the work being done for the client. These rules recognize the danger that divided payment may lead to divided loyalty.

The inspector also is required to disclose to the client any business interest of the inspector which might affect the client in connection with the inspection. This requirement seeks to prevent a situation from arising in which the inspector’s personal financial interest influences his or her professional judgment.

A written report: Every home inspection must result in a written report to the client. The report must describe the areas and building systems inspected and indicate any systems or components which were found to be in need of repair.

Confidentiality: The inspector also owes the client a duty of confidentially. Specifically, the inspector may not disclose the results of the inspection to anyone other than the client without the client’s permission. Nor may the inspector reveal any confidential information obtained from the client.

Limitations on the home inspector’s duty:

Inspection limited to “readily accessible building areas: It is the client’s duty to arrange with the seller to make the property safely and easily accessible to the inspector. The inspector is required only to inspect “readily accessible components” of the building, including, among other things, “heating, cooling, plumbing and electrical systems, structural components, foundation, roof, masonry, [and] structure.” Thus, areas which are difficult to access (e.g. due to the seller’s placement of objects in the way) will not be inspected. The client should make every effort to ensure clear access.

Inspection focuses on large scale, not details: The reference to “components” means that the inspector is to look at readily observable aspects of a system such as a floor or wall, but not at the detailed parts of that system like individual boards or nails.

No duty to opine re building code compliance: A home inspector is not required to advise the client as to whether the property inspected complies with the town building code. In one Superior Court case, the client argued that the home inspector improperly failed to advise her that the absence of a second means of egress from the third floor of a building violated applicable building code requirements for a three family residence. The court ruled for the home inspector. The applicable regulations also prohibit the inspector from determining building or zoning code violations.

Life expectancy: The home inspector need not give an opinion on how long any component or system will last.

Methods and costs of needed repairs: Nor must the inspector report on what caused the system or component to need repair, recommend a method of repair, or predict the likely cost of the repair.

Suitability of the property for any use: While the client may be very interested in the suitability of the property for a particular use, the inspector need not render an opinion on that issue.

Presence or absence of pests: As the inspector is not a pest specialist, and as the client can obtain a separate pest inspection, the inspector is not required to report on the presence or absence of insects, rodents or other pests.

What the home inspector is prohibited from supplying:

Among the many things which a home inspector is prohibited from doing are:

• opining as to the market value of the property inspected or its marketability;
• opining as to the advisability of purchasing the property;
• verifying property lines;
• inspecting concealed places;
• inspecting soil conditions;
• damaging the property in any way, including by disturbing insulation;
• testing for hazardous materials;
• projecting future operating costs for the property

Issues that the client should investigate independently: The home inspector is required to notify the client that the answers to the following should be ascertained from the seller because they are relevant to the decision whether to purchase the home, but are not readily observable, and hence not addressed in the inspector’s report:

• History of water penetration in basement and/or crawl space;
• If the dwelling is on public or private sewage systems;
• If the dwelling has been previously tested for radon gas;
• If the dwelling has been inspected for insect infestation;
• If the dwelling has been previously inspected by a home inspector; and if the seller is willing to disclose such report; and
• If there is an underground storage tank on the property.

The seller is not required to provide this information, but the purchaser should ask.

Complaints or claims against home inspectors?

The client may lodge an administrative complaint against a home inspector by filing it with the Board of Registration of Home Inspectors. Ultimately, after following the mandated administrative procedure, the Board may, among other sanctions, suspend or revoke the inspector’s license, require the inspector to complete further education or require the inspector to work with supervision. The Board may also order the inspector to pay restitution to the client, and may assess monetary fines.

In addition to an administrative complaint, the client may sue a home inspector in court for, in appropriate circumstances, breach of contract, unfair business practices, negligence or other torts. It is important to note that any civil action arising from a home inspection must be filed within three years after the date of the written home inspection report. This is a so-called statute of repose, not a statute of limitations and, therefore, bars the claim even if the client could not have discovered the relevant facts sooner.

Home inspectors are subject to extensive regulation, intended to ensure that they provide a quality service and to provide their client’s with redress for harm caused by substandard or negligent services. The law should adequately protect a client who enters into a transaction with an understanding of the important, yet limited, role played by a home inspector.

If you have questions regarding this or any other legal real estate matter, please contact Attorney Roger T. Manwaring, Esq. at rtm@barronstad.com or (617) 531-6584.

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