A first-time homebuyer spent their savings fixing rot that was missed by their home inspector.
The sale of a retired couple’s home fell through after an “inflammatory” inspection report found non-existent problems.
In both instances, the homeowners suggest that a regulated home inspection industry would have prevented these situations.
Call for regulations
In July, The Telegram reported that both the Canadian Association of Home and Property Inspectors and the N.L. Association of Realtors have been advocating for the government to regulate the home inspection industry.
But in an emailed statement to The Telegram in July, Minister of Service NL Sherry Gambin-Walsh said the government is not considering regulating home inspections.
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N.L.'s unregulated home inspection sector 'like the wild west'
“Should there be a decision in the future to consider regulation there would be a number of issues and concerns to address around standards, costs, availability for rural areas and training of home inspectors,” the emailed statement said.
The Telegram has since heard from people explaining how a lack of regulations affected them.
Names and genders are withheld to protect privacy because they’re still trying to sell their homes.
‘Hasty’ inspection
A first-time homebuyer said they’re “devastated” after spending all of their savings on their new home — largely due to issues missed by the home inspector.
The inspector claimed to use thermal imaging technology, but the homeowner said all four sides of the house had rot and water damage.
“Clearly with the amount of water damage and rot that was behind the walls in my property, there’s no way that thermal imaging was used,” they said, calling it a “hasty” inspection.
They hired a contractor to fix the damage, and he said the amount of rot he found in a 100-year-old home didn’t come close to what he found in this fairly new home.
The contractor said the water damage came from construction and installation defects, causing significant water penetration over time — likely since the original construction of the house.
The insurance adjuster said the same thing — the damages were uninsurable due to improper construction methods.
So far, the homeowner has spent tens of thousands of dollars on the home.
“You work so hard to save money and to reach these milestones in your life … and then you get slapped in the face with damage.
“That’s the whole reason for an inspector — you expect them to come in and tell you whether it’s a safe property to purchase. … You hire somebody that you think is competent in their ability to identify any deficiencies, and that didn’t happen.
“I wouldn’t have purchased the home, obviously, had I known I would have had to blow all my savings to fix it.”
The homeowner said they’d like to see the home inspection industry regulated because “these home inspectors just get away scot-free and buyers like myself are out potentially thousands of dollars.”
Two ‘utterly different’ inspections
Meanwhile, a retired couple said they’re also “devastated” after the sale of their home fell through because of what they called an “inflammatory” inspection report.
Even worse, a second inspection report completed by a different inspector two days later was “utterly different” from the first.
The couple are trying to sell their house because they want to build a single-story home. Their health is declining and they have two elderly parents who will be moving in, so their current multi-level home is no longer suitable.
They had a buyer and were making plans to build their new home when the sale fell through. They say the inspection scared the buyer away.
When they spoke with The Telegram in their dining room, they were visibly upset with the way the report was put together.
“You can’t fix things that aren’t broken, and that’s what this report says — a whole bunch of stuff is broken that’s not,” said the husband.
He said they thought their “castle was condemned.”
However, he noticed some comments in the report appeared inaccurate, so they hired their own inspector to have a second look.
“Between the two reports, there’s a lot of differences in what was found.”
For example, the first report identified a “bio-organic growth” that had “characteristics of mould and mildew” in the garage, while the second report did not identify it at all.
In the end, the owners learned the “bio-organic growth” was dirt — but in the interim they were anxious because the first report indicated the growth should be “tested by a professional lab.”
The husband said they had a carpenter, an electrician and a propane fireplace inspector come to their home.
The contractors fixed a few things, but they also looked at several things the first report called “hazardous” or requiring “immediate correction,” only to find that many of the report’s claims were wrong or overstated.
“This stuff is blatantly wrong, but it’s out there now and there’s no recourse for the sellers. And this is where we’re at — we don’t know what to do. It’s so upsetting,” he said.
His wife questions how “two reports on the same house done within two days (can) be so completely different.”
“We got two completely — like, night and day — reports. Different issues, different wording.”
The couple said they’d like to see regulations around home inspections to ensure consistency in reports.
Twitter: @juanitamercer_
