Thread: Record retention for inspection files

What would the time frame for retaining old files and inspection agreements be. I have heard five years, ten years and forever.

Thanks

Mike

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Forever, but 7 years is more likely the more correct legal answer.

If you store stuff electronically get one of these. You can store alot of reports on 1TB.


1TB external

Every home inspection report and picture ever taken I have stored on a external hard drive and on CD's as a backup. A bit extreme maybe, but its just something I do.

To make it worse, I have an email account with Google and I always CC every emailed report to myself to have as a backup in case I'm out of the office and need to look up a report. Just another storage place at NO Charge.

rick

Everything I had past the last few years went up in smoke. Paper, CDs and hard drive....gone for ever. I didn't want to store it just anywhere so I stored it at a friends while waiting for the new place....... The house burned down All gone

Originally Posted by Rick Hurst

To make it worse, I have an email account with Google and I always CC every emailed report to myself to have as a backup in case I'm out of the office and need to look up a report. Just another storage place at NO Charge.

rick

I do the exact same thing.... Gmail is the best poor man's backup available. The convenience is great. I can forward reports right from my cell phone and, if necessary, open the laptop and have full access.

As a few others have said it can depend on your location. Mississippi has a 3 year limit of liability from the date of the inspection in their statute (law), after that legal action can not be brought against a home inspector.

In Tennessee right now it is 5 years, hopefully we will get that down to 1 year with a change in the law this year.

From a common sense aspect you need to think of why you should retain records and what is the worse outcome of not keeping them for eternity or however long. Personally I would have a difficult time trying to recover any inspection from any date past 3-4 years.

Why would you want to keep an inspection record from a job you did 3+ years ago unless your state law requires it?

Originally Posted by Scott Patterson

Why would you want to keep an inspection record from a job you did 3+ years ago unless your state law requires it?

You wouldn't. In CT we can be sued for 3 yrs on liability and 6 years on contract. The IRS requires 7 years, (i think). I throw all my stuff as soon as it hits the 6 year mark. An IRS audit would not need to look at individual reports.

I've got in$pection reports going back to 1994, with the exception of a few I lost in computer hard drive crashes - 1994 is when I started doing my reports on the computer.

My question is: Those files take up so little room ... Why not keep them?

Dang, some make it sound like you will be in legal trouble IF you keep them that long.

Paper report files done before 1994? Threw them out when we moved up here in 2006 simply because I did not want to lug them around and store those boxes any more.

I use an automatic back up service (Carbonite). Plus thumb drives etc.

Originally Posted by Jerry Peck

I've got in$pection reports going back to 1994, with the exception of a few I lost in computer hard drive crashes - 1994 is when I started doing my reports on the computer.

My question is: Those files take up so little room ... Why not keep them?

Dang, some make it sound like you will be in legal trouble IF you keep them that long.

Paper report files done before 1994? Threw them out when we moved up here in 2006 simply because I did not want to lug them around and store those boxes any more.

All true, but I still see no need in keeping files when you really don't need them. Heck, I'm also the type of person if I have not used something in a year or so it might get tossed if it is cluttering up the area. My wife on the other hand does not toss anything! She just keeps collecting stuff......

I do not recall seeing any LAW in Texas that requires that reports be retained for any amount of time. Anyone?? I have heard many un-official opinions.

5 years - reports AND notes/pics per IL law.

And you don't need to cc: yourself on every email. They should be in your "sent items" folder (attachments and all)

Originally Posted by Rick Maday

And you don't need to cc: yourself on every email. They should be in your "sent items" folder (attachments and all)

Not if you use POP 3 like Outlook or Firefox and you are on a different computer.

Online Backup, Computer Backup Software & Remote Backup – Carbonite.com

Once you have it set up, forget it. It backs everything up automatically every time you're connected to the internet.

I was forever forgetting to back up with that old "I'll do it tomorrow" but never got to it.

With carbonite, I don't have to remember or put it off. It's just done!

$43.00 bucks a year.

-

Originally Posted by Gunnar Alquist

Not if you use POP 3 like Outlook or Firefox and you are on a different computer.

Outlook will save them in a sent folder if you'd like. Haven't used the firefox email app, but I imagine you can configure it to do same.

Yes, using a local program like Outlook will only save them on one computer.

While I still have a bunch of paper reports going way way back, they are getting tossed this winter when I tackle the basement for de-cluttering project.

As a side note. I have an external hard drive that does an automatic back up. That drive crashed. While my computer is in good shape, my back up crashed.
Got me thinking about off site back ups. I guess I need to look now.

I've never used Carbonite but have used Mozy for about a year now for similar process. Mozy has been trouble free and unobtrusive in it's operation. The only time I know it is working is once a day I will have a message pop up telling me the backup has been successfully performed and how much memory has been used. I keep about 10.5Gb out of the 11 paid for so far. If I exceed what I have purchased, I just go in and buy a little more. Simple, and I don't have to remember anything except the pass words to get in to access my account if I ever have a problem. I also have most of the reports available on my Yahoo! email server for free.