Home Inspection

[Jamielly]

Texas

Me and my now ex-boyfreind, purchased a home a year ago and have had problems ever since. We are in the process of going after our inspector for MANY things that he missed that has cost us, and continues to cost us, what will be well over $5,000 in repairs to our house. His response to our attorneys letter was that we did not close on our house till 3-4 wks after his inspection and also that he refunded our money when we called to complain about all the major problems we were having. We have had proffessionals give us estimates that state that the problems, and amount of damage, are evidence that they existed WELL before our inspection, and that these things shoudl have been caught on inspection. My questions are this:

1. Is there some time frame that voids a Home Inspection from being reliable?

2. Would the fact that he refunded our money to the inspection end any chance we have at getting a settlement, when his inspection, regardless of the $200 refund, cost us a 30 yr mortgage with a house that we would not have purchased if we were aware of all that was wrong with it?

Thanks for any help you can give.

 

[HomeGuru]

Texas

Me and my now ex-boyfreind, purchased a home a year ago and have had problems ever since. We are in the process of going after our inspector for MANY things that he missed that has cost us, and continues to cost us, what will be well over $5,000 in repairs to our house. His response to our attorneys letter was that we did not close on our house till 3-4 wks after his inspection and also that he refunded our money when we called to complain about all the major problems we were having. We have had proffessionals give us estimates that state that the problems, and amount of damage, are evidence that they existed WELL before our inspection, and that these things shoudl have been caught on inspection. My questions are this:

1. Is there some time frame that voids a Home Inspection from being reliable?
**A: a home inspection is only good for the time period that it is completed as things do change over the course of time.
You must read the terms and conditions in the inspection agreement and also see what home inspection standards of practice were followed such as ASHI etc. If the inspector should have caught something and did not (following the standards), then the inspector is liable.
************


2. Would the fact that he refunded our money to the inspection end any chance we have at getting a settlement, when his inspection, regardless of the $200 refund, cost us a 30 yr mortgage with a house that we would not have purchased if we were aware of all that was wrong with it?

Thanks for any help you can give.

**A: there is probably a limit of liability in the contract but this condition will not protect the inspector if the inspector is guilty of gross negligence. If you accepted the refund and signed a waiver or release of all claims then you may be barred from making any claims. Search this website as I have responded to several similar posts in the past.

 

[Jamielly]

Thank you for the inormation. I searched through the posts and the only other post I found that regarded Inspection Refunds was a lady that had also signed a settlement letter. We never have, and never would have, signed such a thing. There was never any talk of the refund being his final say in such matters, though I think in his mind he was hoping it would be. The Inspectors attorney letter back to our attorney mentioned something about us accepting "conplete tender of liqidated damages" but we never even gave the impression that the refund was a settlement of ANY kind. In fact in the letter the inspector wrote to us with the refund check enclosed, he never mentioned anything about releasing him from any other responsibilty. We wanted a refund bc we had essentially paid him for Nothing. We have valid come backs to all the responses from the other attorney, except the refund one. If we never signed an aggreement, or made an oral one at that since it was never mentioned by either parties, can he argue that the refund was a settlement check?

Also, one more thing, the attorney also threatened us, to keep it out of court I am sure, that if we loose in court, we could be responsible for the inspectors court costs. My understanding of all the reading I've done on the Deceptive Trade Practices Act, is that if this does end up in court, that the only way We could become responsible for his court costs is if it was found that we had taken him to court in bad faith. Since we do have valid grounds, even if we were to loose, could it be said we did it out of "bad faith" and us be responsible for his incurred costs??

 

[HomeGuru]

Hold firm and make this bad inspector pay. He does not deserve to have a license.

 

[faithandhope]

The items in question as to what he missed were not specific so it's hard to completely understand from just a post. Sometimes a buyer thinks an item should have been found but it may be listed under a different inspection heading and called by a different name. Also, cosmetic items will not be inspected but a buyer thinks they should have been. There is always room for confusion unless a buyer knows what items are SPECIFICALLY inspected and are part of the standards of practice, as Home Guru mentioned. And yes, an inspection is good for that day and time only and it is up to the seller to maintain the property until closing. Also, most inspections have a contract in Texas that a buyer signs as to performance, standards, restrictions and mediation when the inspection is performed and a dispute arises. I recommend having a second STANDARD TREC inspection done for comparison or obtaining a copy of the standards of practice from TREC (Texas Real Estate Commission) who actually licenses the inspectors in Texas. Ask the inspector if he has insurance as well. Also deceptive trade practice is much harder to prove on an inspector because you have to prove there was monetary gain for the inspector in the performance of the inspection, such as calling a roof bad in order for a friend to sell the buyer a new roof. I would do your homework and get an assessment of the amount of repairs and not try to go for extra damages, etc. If you could get the inspector to settle for that amount, take it. Best of Luck to you.

 

[Jamielly]

I just wrote a novel of a post and then this forum just deleted it when I tried to preview...so here's a summarized version...

We are trying to stick to our guns in all of this. We have already had the Cosmetic fight with our Agent and the Inspector. I had steered clear of talking about the problems with the house bc I was trying to stay on the subject at hand so not to get too confusing, bc beleive me when I say we have had a ton go wrong with this house since the day of closing. In fact, starting the day of closing. We have a sight, www.ebbysucks.com, that tells the whole story, everything that's gone wrong, even has pictures of everything on it. You will understand more of our frustration. We have looked up the TX standards the inspector is supposed to abide by, and have found many ways he has neglicated his obligations to us. We know without a shadow of a doubt he is at fault. We also know our seller was, for not disclosing many things (like hiding an iron burn under a rug.... stuff like this we know is cosmetic, but still pisses us off to no end) and also our agent who totally misrepresented us. I have read a ton on DTPA and did not know it was harder to go after inspectors for this. Why is this so??
We have always believed him and our agent were in cahoots together and that was the first thing our of our attorneys mouth when we told him our story, but like he said, it would be very difficult to prove.
Me and my ex fiance are young, I was 20, he was 21, and we believe this was part of the reason we were taken advantage of so bad...but again..hard to prove. If we had the money we would go after all of them for the principle of it all, but we have spent every last dime, and some of others, just to make the house livable. (Besides, the seller is no where to be found...Post Office does not even have a forwarding address for him) We call our house the Money Pit-so beautiful, but so decieving. We bought well below our means so as not to be strapped like many first time home buyers mistakenly do, but bc of all the money for repairs....we are broke. The house should not have appraised as it did, and if we tried to sell now, there's NO way we'd get our money back.
Can you tell me about DTPA and inspectors and how this is different than any other company???

 

[faithandhope]

It sounds very frustrating for you and being in the inspection business, I understand. There are bad apples in the barrel, I don't doubt your story, it's just that so much confusion comes from realtors not explaining the limits of what home inspectors do and very high expectations from buyers. Inspectors are so limited when doing VISUAL inspections and sellers can be deceptive by painting, covering things, moving furniture, etc., as well. It's like a general practitioner who tries to diagnosis your illness but then sends you to a specialist for further diagnosis if needed. If we were all engineers, master electricians and plumbers, licensed a/c engineers, environmental engineers, roof specialists, etc., the price of your inspection would be in the thousands. I don't know why Deceptive Trade Practice is harder to prove for inspectors, I just know several who have had that come up in this industry and the buyers had to drop it because it doesn't stick. It's a long and frustrating process you are undertaking and its best to have an attorney working for you who understands the trade and limits of standards of pratice so he's not wasting your time and money. Do check the insurance angle. Best of Luck to you.

 

[Jamielly]

www.ebbysucks.com

www.ebbysucks.com

I noticed the URL for the site was not working so here it is again in case you wanted to see the actual story (I recommend the pictures, they tell more than we ever could).

As for our house, we know that cosmetic things, such as carpet are not looked at, even if problems are obvious. When we had contacted our agent with the problems, he told us they were all cosmetic. We know they are not. The directly relate to the livability of the house. But here are just a few of our problems we've had with our house:


1) We had to replace piping in our AC unit bc it was clogged and the overflow was leaking onto our back patio.
2) Toilet in Hall bath was not secured to the floor.
3) Chimney was not reinforced to our house, but reinforced to itself.
4) We were told our water heater was a 50 gal tank, when in fact we found it was a 40 gal. We found this out, bc a month after move in, it burst in our attic and leaked through our ceiling. There were obvious rust marks surrounding the unit. (this cost us over $400, bc our Home Warranty did not cover it bc the unit was out of code, which we were never informed of)
5) 2 Mnths after being in the house the tiles in our Master Shower began falling off the walls, renduring it useless. (you should see it now....there are pictures on the site)
6) The Shower pan is cracked and leaked under our carpet in Master Bath. When we had a proffessional come out and look at the shower to estimate the repairs needed ( +/- $4,000) he did the ball/pan test and our pan leaked within 5 minutes. He stated that according to the damage evident it had been leaking for at least 6mnths-1 year, and that the inspector should have performed this test and caught it. It was marked as functioning on our Inspection. We also have a seperate jacuzi tub that is now rendered useless bc the tiles surrounding this are now loose, nevermind the tiles that have already come off the vanity.
7) AC- upon move in our AC would run for an hour or two and then trip the breaker. We discovered that the breaker was melted and that the Seller and already moved the poles the AC was on bc it had melted the poles away, obvioulsy this had been an existing problem. After replacing what we thought were just bad breakers, a month later the electricity in the whole house went out. We found that it was the Panel that needed replacing (estimated repairs of $800) bc it was allowing too much electricty through. We found a business card in the breaker box, behind the cover, for the inspector we used. The professional that fixed it said he had NEVER seen anything like it, and we were lucking the house did not burn down around us.


Those are just some of the problems...we found others, less expensive then above.... Of course they all added up fast when these all happened within 4 mnths of move in. We had stoppers in bathrooms that had completely rusted out and clogged the drains, that were marked as fuctioning... That kind of damage is not done in 3-4 wks, just like the shower... They had to be going on for months before we ever saw the house. We have fixed everything in the house except for the Shower, bc we simply do not have the money. We are going after the inspector in hopes he has the E&O, and like I said in previous posts, we would settle for just getting our shower fixed. We are not money hungry kids looking for an easy ride...we just want to use our shower.

Is there any advice or info you could give to help us in this? We have paperwork galore, including the letter he sent with his inspection, that 1) does not mention that refund as being ANY type of settlement, and 2) completely contradicts his perfect home inspection. Not to mention we had the shower professional write a letter stating his findings and how long they have been going on. What other things could we need, or do you perhaps know we could counter this claim that the refund was a settlement??


Thanks for everything!!

 

[JETX]

I have visited your website (http://www.ebbysucks.com/) and have a few 'random' comments on your situation:

1) Inspector:
a) In reviewing the attachments to your site, I notice that the inspector did NOT use the TREC required form (form 7A-0), but used his 'own'. I believe that this is also a violation of the TREC rules. TREC "§535.227. Standards of Practice: General Provisions.
(b)(2)(F) complete the standard inspection report form under §535.223 of this title (relating to Standard Inspection Reports)if that section applies;"
http://www.trec.state.tx.us/pdf/administration/rei7A-0_980615.pdf/
TREC Inspection Rules can be found at: http://www.trec.state.tx.us/pdf/rules/535.227_231.pdf
c) It does appear that both his PE license and TREC inspector licenses were valid when he did the inspection.

2) Realtor: Personally, I believe that you are putting far more importance on their services than normal. The agents main purpose is to put the buyer and seller together and to make sure that all the documents are properly handled and it sounds like this agent did that. The only link to your situation that I can see is that the agent referred you to the inspector and that really doesn't make the agent liable for the inspectors shortcomings (if any).

3) I have also read the inspection report, and though it doesn't follow the TREC mandated form, it appears that he DID perform an inspection and noted numerous things that were wrong with the property... including that the water heater itself was functional (at the time of inspection).

4) Specifics:
a) You complain that the tile began falling off the shower two months after moving in. Is there ANY evidence that the tiles were falling off (or had fallen off) at the time of his inspection???
b) Required repairs not made: Why, why did you close on the property without making SURE that the required repairs were completed?? Big mistake!
c) When Ann repeatedly said, "I will do what's right", why did you not get that in writing. Big mistake! Even when you felt during a subsequent meeting that she was "washing her hands of us", your 'get it in writing' alarms should have been going off!!
d) Finally, lets look at your specific complaints vs. the inspection report:
1. Complaint: "Work on voided thermal windows had yet to be completed."
Report: Clearly shows this as a problem.
2. Complaint: "Primary A/C condensate line was blocked and was causing water to be sent to the back-up onto the patio."
Report: Looks like you got him on this one... he says "functional". But you must have noticed the water dripping on the patio and wondered "What?"
3. Complaint: "A/C would not run as circuit breaker tripped continuously."
Report: Seems strange. The report details specific temperature 'delta' which implies it was running at least long enough to get chill.
4. Complaint: "Guest bathroom toilet was not attached to floor."
Report: Looks like you got him here... report says 'base anchorage: functional'"
5. Complaint: "Guest bathroom sink stopper was completely rusted in pipe and was not functional."
Report: And here (report says 'drain stops functional')
6. Complaint: "Burnt iron mark in carpet concealed by a throw rug in the master bathroom."
Report: Carpet is not part of inspection. You should have noticed this one yourself.
7. Complaint: "Hot water faucet not functional in master bathroom sink as it was turned off since it ran continously."
Report: Got him here also (says functional)
8. Complaint: "A/C Compressor Not Level."
Report: Not a part of inspection (but should have been noticed).
9. Complaint: "Gutters leaking, clogged, and coming away from house."
Report: Noted as 'functional', but this is also something that you should have noticed on your own.
10. Complaint: "Chimney not reinforced to the house and rocking in the wind."
Report: this isn't a part of the inspection, but should have been noted if found incidental to inspection.
11. Complaint: "Several outlets not functional in home."
Report: These are noted on the report.
12. Complaint: "Window screens checked by inspector were torn and unusable. (Missing from
breakfast nook and were informed they were in the attic by inspector.)"
Report: noted in report.
13. Complaint: "Master bathroom shower handle broken."
Report: doesn't specifically include this, but you should have seen this yourself.
14. Complaint: "Missed voided thermal window panes."
Report: This is a duplicate item and was noted in the report.

Summary: I feel that by claiming ALL of these as faults of others, you are trying to defer some of the responsibility that you should have. However, I feel you do have a somewhat valid complaint about the quality of the inspection report and I suggest you get an accurate estimate of repair and take the inspector, agent and seller to small claims court.... all in one case. Let the judge determine liability (if any).

 

[HomeGuru]

I agree with the post by Halket in general and wish to disagree on #2 with respect to agent liability.
In my opinion, the agent has third party liabilty because the agent recommended this particular home inspector.
And more importantly the reason that Plano was not used because they are too picky. So the bottomline is that the agent with woeful intent recommended the home inspector that was the least picky and therefore the least thorough. Possibly the real estate agent was in cahoots with the home inspector. I have seen this numerous times where the real agent tells the home inspector not to be a deal killer in order to get more referrals.
After review of the website (which I had seen long before the writer's post), it is my conclusion that the real estate agent violated provisions in the Realtor Code of Ethics, the Seller is guilty of misrepresentation in disclosure and the home inspector did not conform to the home inspection standards of practice.
This is a case for the real estate and the home inspector's E&O insurance to settle.

 

[JETX]

It is VERY common for the realtor to offer a recommendation of an inspector to a home buyer and I doubt that on its own would constitute collusion. However, I will stress what I tried to point out in my LONG (much longer than anticipated...) post... that is that the buyers alarms should have been going off like crazy. Lets look at the facts:
1) The already had a substantial negative report on the property (and allowed to be swayed by the 'less demanding' inspection).
2) In reading the report that they did get, there were LOTS of problems with the property already... and some of the ones complained about are on the report.
3) In all, I see only a few minor issues that could be considered damages, mostly plumbing (unanchored commode, faucet off at valve, sink stopper, etc.).

And finally, if the homeowner had spent half the time they have spent on creating the website and making phone calls and emails actually writing letters and demanding answers (or even filing a small claims action), this could probably have been solved by now.

Don't misunderstand, I am NOT condoning the actions of the inspector or the agent. I just don't see the massive conspiracy that seems to be claimed here. File your lawsuit in small claims, list the agent, the inspector and the seller. Tell your version and let the court decide. Texas allows either party to appeal, so you will at least have your day in court... with no 'downside' (other than time, which you clearly have).

 

[Jamielly]

Thank you Both, HomeGuru and Halket.

My ex and I both admit to our ignorance in all of this. We know that ignorance makes us liable in some fashion. We also know that the inspector and agent fed off this. We relied more heavily on them then we should have and for that we admit guilt. Believe you me, lesson learned.

The reason for the other inspection company, in our ignorance we trusted the agent who told us the other company was unreliable and trusted his recommendation. Stupid of us, we know now.

It is funny that most who read that site think if we spent 1/2 the time and effort put into that we would have things resolved by now. Problem is, we went back and forth for 6 mnths with Ebby Halliday (and you know as well as I do, if a company is liable, they will NOT put anything in writing to keep it from biting them in the end) It took but 1 night to make the site. And from the moment we began to see that things were going nowhere with Ebby (before the letters and talks ever ended) we had already began speaking with attorneys. In fact from that time on. We sent out a DTPA letter 2 months ago to the inspector, to which we just heard back. That response letter was the reason for the intial post. We have never stopped trying to get this resolved, and in fact have put many many more hours into the resolution then the site.

We have already realized that while we were upset that some things were not mentioned, there is nothing we can do, and have moved on from them. In fact the only thing that still bothers us, is the shower. All else is fixed, and for the most part, forgotten.

As for the agent liability, every attorney, save one, told us that by making such comments he was acting as inspector and has not right in doing such. That holds him liable, besides the fact that he recommended the one we did use. I also know by reading the Realtors Code of Ethics, he has an obligation to not speak badly regarding other Real Estate Co's which is just what he did.

The items such as the broken shower handle, and the burn mark....hidden. Upon move in, we went to remove many items the seller he had left in the house (he took off leaving us to remove many things of his, first sign something was not right) and upon lifting rugs left, found the burn mark. The shower handle, though broken, would stay on the knob if handled with care. Things like that, the inspector could have missed (burn mark we know he was not required to, mostly things like that we tried to get ahold of seller to answer too). Understandable. The shower tiles, no, none had fallen off at time of inspection, or move in. But they were soft and should have been caught. There were two tiles that had been replaced previously, we know bc they were a shade different then the rest. Especially the shower pan that has a crack in it. Being ignorant of plumbing, stuff like that I left to the inspector to catch, that was what we paid him for. As for the AC, it ran for an hour or two, long enough to get cold and then would trip off. He would have known it got cold, but should have seen the breaker box with the melted poles. Things like the window, where he clearly states to get a professional to look at, we know we are responsible for those.

All around the seller was a jerk. That was only maginfied by our inspector and agent who refused to help us. Things that were supposed to be fixed, that we got reciepts for, after move in we found that they had been band-aid. Lesson learned again. Never trust the people you pay to respresent you (and in all actuality the agent had signed a Buyers Agreement with us, which gave him fiduciary responsibility to us). Most of the stuff you, Halket, responded to was our initial email of questions to our agent, in regards to not only the inspector, but mostly the sellers responsibility in his lack of disclosure. Most of those things we consider only "icing on the cake" so to speak. Though they were not sweet.

 

[faithandhope]

Most agents do not recommend inspectors. Those who recommend us do so because we WON'T land themselves and us in court because of poor inspection quality and/or have used us themselves. The majority of realtors recommend inspectors using that rule of thumb, more so than the bad, thank goodness.
I would save your documentation and send a letter of complaint to the TREC inspector's complaint division. They will investigate and formally conduct a hearing and discipline if findings recommend such. Also there is a recovery fund for such cases if the inspector is found liable.
I don't normally recommend this avenue for many reasons but in this case it may help. It can be time consuming and is not an immediate remedy because they do investigate thoroughly.
Best of luck to you.