What Are Home Inspectors Not Allowed to Do?

Home inspection is a service where a certified professional, also known as a home inspector, comes in to inspect your home. This includes the observation, assessment, and inspection of all visible damages, defects, and possible hazards. Such a service helps to identify the areas which need repairs and improvement. These services are very useful in situations where you want to buy or sell a property. However, before hiring a professional, you need to know what are home inspectors not allowed to do while they are at your property. 

What The Inspectors Aren’t Allowed to do?

Perform Repairs

It’s part of the inspector’s job to identify the damaged parts of your home, like rusty plumbing and a weak staircase. However, they cannot perform any repairs on their own, no matter how minor it is. They don’t have the expertise nor the license to perform any such repairs. What they can do to help you is mention the recommended repairs in the inspection report. The most that they can legally do is to recommend a repairman in your area.

That’s it. If an inspector insists on performing some repairs, please avoid it at all costs as they can worsen the situation in hopes of making some extra money. If they do manage to make those repairs, then chances are those will not last long and you will have to get repairs again in a few months. Repairs should only be performed by a professional repairman. 

Assume Potential Dangers

One of the things that home inspectors look for during an inspection is hazardous materials. These include spillage of harmful chemicals, mold growth, and the presence of asbestos in the home structure, or radon. While all these are important to identify it doesn’t mean that an inspector should start assuming that these hazards exist. They might see some symptoms that indicate the presence of such materials but these symptoms should not be taken as proof. Not should anyone rely on the experience of the inspectors.

Inspectors are highly encouraged to just mention their thoughts regarding a potential hazard and at the same time perform official tests to check the presence of these materials. These are serious hazards and dealing with them is expensive. It can put the homeowner under a lot of stress. So, it’s always better to come up with a statement, only when it’s proved in an official test or report. 

Valuing Your Property

Many homeowners and realtors get the services of home inspectors while buying and selling the property. The reports that the inspectors produced can give valuable insights into determining the value of the property in the market. But there’s a fine line between providing insights to help determine the value and straight away valuing a property’s market value. Inspectors should not determine the value of a property, no matter how sure they are of its actual price in the market. Valuing a property is the job of a realtor.

What they should do, is to help their clients with identifying areas that can be improved to increase the overall price of the property or home. Giving inaccurate insights on a property’s value will make the inspector lose their credibility and trust in their client. This can also raise suspicion and for the right reasons as such inspectors can devalue your property in new construction home inspection, for their benefit.

Commenting On Appliances And Other Machines

It’s not uncommon to get roof condition inspection services and while on their way down, the inspector tells you that your HVAC needs to be replaced or it won’t last long. Many inspectors love to boast about their experience and show their expertise by commenting on everything they can. This is not the job of an inspector. While they may be able to judge the condition of your HVAC just by hearing its sound, it’s not always the correct judgment. The same goes for all other machines, equipment, and appliances.

They should be informing you of the current condition of these machines as it helps in determining the overall value but determining if a replacement is required or not is out of their scope. If an inspector highlights a system, you should always hire professional repairmen or servicemen to get a proper inspection. This will save you from unnecessary stress. 

Moving Things on Your Property

Inspectors should not move any appliances, furniture, or any other heavy equipment on your property. First of all, it’s not needed in most cases. Second, they can damage the appliances or the surroundings while doing so. If done carelessly, they can also injure themselves or people around them.

Yes, there are a few situations where they might need to move some things to perform a proper inspection, but that should be done only with the homeowner’s permission. A possible scenario is to remove the fridge to properly inspect the intensity of the water damage behind it.  

Diagnosing the Root Cause of a Problem

Speaking of water damage, an inspector can only inspect the apparent damages that are visible. They should not try to look deeper into the issue as they are not the experts. For example, if there is a bump in the floor, they should just mention it and not check whether it’s because of improper fitting or a leak underneath. Yes, if the root cause is apparent, then they should inform you about it as well as mention it in the report. 

Compromising the Safety

It includes compromising the security of their own as well as their clients. For example, they should not provide roof condition inspection services in extreme weather or if the roof is covered in snow. Anything that can cause injuries should be avoided at all costs. 

Conclusion

Home inspection services are very beneficial services and can help in a lot of scenarios. Knowing what a home inspector should and shouldn’t do will help you while they are on your property. Also, the above-mentioned things are just a glimpse of what they cannot do and provide a generic guideline. These can vary significantly depending on your state and local laws regulating the home inspectors and home inspection services. You should always check with the local authorities for more detailed, precise, and up-to-date information.