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Re: TREC disciplinary actions
If TREC decided to pursue these guys then it was the result of a written complaint being filed against them by someone. TREC only responds to written complaints which generally come from buyers, sellers, or involved real estate agents/brokers and so on. TREC itself can also generate a in-house complaint against an inspector for something administrative like bouncing a check or failing to provide information that they have requested in a timely manner.
Once a complaint is received by TREC they review to see if they have jurisdiction in the matter. If the inspector happened to be an engineer working under his PE license and did not even have a TREC license, then TREC has no jurisdiction.
Once TREC decides that they have jurisdiction they do have field investigators who can follow up on the complaint out in the field. Meanwhile the staff attorneys will be scrutinizing the inspector’s written report for any errors, omissions, or alteration of the TREC promulgated form.
Mistakes found within the inspector’s written report are what seem to get inspectors into trouble most of the time even when the mistake(s) made had nothing at all to do with the original complaint. If you read to list of things TREC found wrong with these guys (particularly the first two) you will note that much of it could be found by just reading the inspector’s report.
For example; not providing the energy source for the heating unit, failing to identify the type of roof, not providing the depth of insulation in the attic, or not identifying the type of branch circuit wiring...the list goes on.
The enforcement attorneys know what information is supposed to be in the written report and if the inspector has failed to include any of it, or has improperly altered the TREC report form, they will take the hit for it.
In all three cases above it looks like the inspectors signed an agreed order offered by TREC and did not opt to go to a hearing before an administrative judge. That is always an option and an inspector does not have to accept TREC’s judgement against them automatically.
I am not sure exactly how these particular cases went down but I am now off of the SoP sub committee and have moved over to be the Chairman of the Enforcement sub committee at TREC. I have a feeling I will be finding out more about how TREC handles these kinds of matters in the months to come.
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