Jeff Spencer
05-09-2008, 12:09 PM
With all the foreclosures, are any of y'all seeing more accusations that you are causing damage to houses you inspect?
I spent most of the day before yesterday in sometimes heated discussion with 2 realtors and 1 homeowner, all who assumed I was responsible for water damage to their master suite caused by a leaking angle stop. I never operate them for obvious reasons. I check behind handles and on stems for leaks, look for corrosion, etc., but never break them over. I clearly state that fact on my report. Nevertheless, in their opinion, I had to be responsible because it happened the day after I inspected the house, and I had to have operated the stop valve because I'd reported the handle of the one next to it as broken and missing. My response to their accusation is that they had da**ed well better have a photo or video of me turning valves if they wanted me to pay for it.
Late that afternoon, I received a voice mail from the seller's agent stating that they found out it was the buyer who had operated the valve after I told him that I don't. no apology, mind you, just a statement that I was not the guy who did it. The repair, fortunately, comes out of the repair allowance agreed to in the contract.
Another inspector I talk to frequently just got hit up to replace a laminate floor that homeowners said he damaged during an inspection 6 months ago. The dishwasher overflowed during inspection. He told me that less than a gallon of water was spilled, and he spent about 30 minutes cleaning up and making sure the spillage had stopped. After, he reported it to the seller's realtor. The "damage" was reported by another inspector on an inspection conducted 5 days ago -- nobody said a word in between.
Last year, I went into 69 houses (out of 483 total inspections) that I was in the year before. This year, 22 out of 130. Conditions in these houses have usually deteriorated significantly by the second inspection. Usually, the previous buyers could afford the purchase, but not ownership of the house. Could it be that given these circumstances, they look to us as a means of affecting repairs they can't afford to do themselves? Something to think about.
Jeff
I spent most of the day before yesterday in sometimes heated discussion with 2 realtors and 1 homeowner, all who assumed I was responsible for water damage to their master suite caused by a leaking angle stop. I never operate them for obvious reasons. I check behind handles and on stems for leaks, look for corrosion, etc., but never break them over. I clearly state that fact on my report. Nevertheless, in their opinion, I had to be responsible because it happened the day after I inspected the house, and I had to have operated the stop valve because I'd reported the handle of the one next to it as broken and missing. My response to their accusation is that they had da**ed well better have a photo or video of me turning valves if they wanted me to pay for it.
Late that afternoon, I received a voice mail from the seller's agent stating that they found out it was the buyer who had operated the valve after I told him that I don't. no apology, mind you, just a statement that I was not the guy who did it. The repair, fortunately, comes out of the repair allowance agreed to in the contract.
Another inspector I talk to frequently just got hit up to replace a laminate floor that homeowners said he damaged during an inspection 6 months ago. The dishwasher overflowed during inspection. He told me that less than a gallon of water was spilled, and he spent about 30 minutes cleaning up and making sure the spillage had stopped. After, he reported it to the seller's realtor. The "damage" was reported by another inspector on an inspection conducted 5 days ago -- nobody said a word in between.
Last year, I went into 69 houses (out of 483 total inspections) that I was in the year before. This year, 22 out of 130. Conditions in these houses have usually deteriorated significantly by the second inspection. Usually, the previous buyers could afford the purchase, but not ownership of the house. Could it be that given these circumstances, they look to us as a means of affecting repairs they can't afford to do themselves? Something to think about.
Jeff