Home Inspections?

[Felicia Gallant]

So, I was always under the impression that when a buyer gets a home inspection, the findings are used to seal the deal or even, in extreme cases, cancel it. My home inspector found a number of minor issues which I requested the seller to fix, in writing via email, to my agent who duly forwarded the list (about 4 minor repairs) to the seller's agent. When I did my visit in April, I was informed that the seller hadn't had a chance to fix the issues but they would be done by closing. I arrived on closing day to find that none of the repairs had been done. In fact, siding was missing from a garage and the previous owner left the siding for me to do myself. Keys were missing to most of the exterior doors and one door never had a lock! Bathroom vents were not vented outside and are still venting inside the roof. Mould above a shower mentioned in the report...the seller painted over the mould and slapped paint all over the shower beneath. Clearly, he was ticked at having to do any work at all. I called my realtor whose response was "The seller doesn't have to fix anything. Some people are just dishonest, sorry!" So, my question is why bother getting a home inspection if the only purpose is to call a deal off? FYI, I've asked a few friends and they all thought, as I did, that the seller should be required to fix or have repaired or provide a credit towards any issues you request from the inspection.

 

[NorthYorkEd]

Unless you made the completion of the repairs a condition of the sales contract, the seller is under no legal obligation to complete them. An inspection is only to flag any major issues for your benefit, so you can decide if the property is worth purchasing or not.

 

[kalvinone]

very true. unfortunately, things mentioned in the inspection is for the buyers benefit... when there are major issues, then you'd want to add to negotiate some sort of compensation since it's better you find someone to do it rather than they do it. *BUT* when the market is hot - are you going to really try to cancel a deal when it'll be like $3K to fix? every house has issues - some large, some small... the inspection is meant to help find those large issues

 

[NorthYorkEd]

An even worse consequence of hot markets are buyers willing to forego home inspections in order to sweeten their offers or please the sellers. Lunacy.