Board Delays Decision on Facts-Only Home Inspection Reports

Posted: Friday, November 09, 2007 at 5:50 a.m.
Updated: 23 minutes ago

Raleigh & The Home Inspector Licensure Board voted 5-2 Friday to delay a decision on a proposal that would limit what home inspectors can put in their reports.

The board sent the proposal to its rules committee for further review. They will discuss the issue again in a meeting scheduled for March.

Home inspections are not required in North Carolina, but they are usually recommended. An inspector can give his or her opinion in the report, but some people want to change that.

“It (the report) should give whoever, whether it's the buyer, seller, real estate agent, whoever, a picture in time of what that house looks like, what needs to be repaired, what needs further investigation and what safety concerns are if they are of a factual nature," said James Liles, a member of the state Home Inspector Licensure Board in the state Department of Insurance.

Liles is one of the board members who supports changing the rules to standardize home inspection reports.

"It tries to get as much opinion out of us as we can," Liles said.

However, some home inspectors said they were opposed to the idea.

"When you omit that sort of opinion, that sort of professional knowledge, which is what that would do, then you put the public in danger," said home inspector Bill Delamar.

Delamar said he believes that change could hurt buyers and make life easier for real estate agents.

"Unwitting buyers will walk into situations where they either have expenses or safety issues that are related to the lack of our ability to tell them what's going on with their house," he said.

Gov. Mike Easley is also getting involved in the matter. He wrote a letter to the board Wednesday, asking them to reconsider the proposal to omit inspector's opinions.

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