You've finally found the perfect house! After hours of nerve racking offer negotiations, your Real Estate Sales Person gives you a welcomed phone call..."your offer has been accepted!"

Home buyers feel many emotions when they hear that they've been successful in getting a place they can call home; excitement, joy, anticipation and anxiety to name a few.

Most home buyers have 2 major conditions in their Agreement of Purchase and Sale: Financing and Home Inspection. If their Agent has done a good job, the Buyers will already be pre approved for a mortgage and the purchase will fall within their buying guidelines. Now, there's only the home inspection.

Over the years, various regulatory bodies have made sure consumers are well protected when dealing with a licensed Real Estate professional and Mortgage Broker...but when it comes to Home Inspectors...may the force be with you!

27 years in the business, and I now have a new "most erroneous home inspection" report and a new "Worse Home Inspector".  This Inspector is highly accredited. He holds a BA...an MBA...belongs to several Home Inspection Associations and is also a Certified Mould Inspector. He records everything on video...and between his filmed inspection and the playback/review of the inspection...you're with him for 6 hours. How thorough can you get??? Now, the interesting part. I was informed from the Buyers Agent that that according to this Inspector "there was more mould in the attic than the inspector had ever seen before". Further more..."The basement needed to be completely rewired"...which would include ripping down the ceiling...AND...the roof was shot...and needed to be completely replaced. The cost of repairing these deficiencies would be approximately $12,000.

This information was relayed onto my Sellers. Alarmed at the results of the inspection and fearing for the health and safety of their 2 young children, they took quick and decisive action. They called in a reputable Mould Remediation company, a Master Electrician, and a well known Roofing contractor. The Roofing company examined the roof thoroughly. There were 2 layers of plywood sheathing plus a single layer of shingles with a minimum remaining life of 5 to 6 years. He could see no reason to replace the roof. Second in the door was the Electrician. Aside for a couple extra plugs on the basement circuit...there were absolutely no problems with the electrical. There were very inexpensive solutions...and a total rewire of the basement was not necessary. Third in the door was "Mould Off", a very reputable mould identification/remediation company. After thorough examination of the attic space and material testing, the homeowner handed them a cheque for $450.00 and they handed the homeowner a certificate stating that there was "0 to almost 0" mould activity in the attic.

I very seldom challenge my karmic balance by getting mad, but after witnessing these 3 professionals refute a single Home Inspectors' condemning report, I could hardly contain myself. I immediately sent a Letter of Complaint to the Ontario Association of Home Inspectors, The Canadian Association of Home and Property Inspectors, The International Association of Indoor Air Consultants and the Master Inspector Certification Board. (I've already heard back from the Master Inspection Certification Board and the Home Inspector won't give them a copy of the report...so there's nothing they can do about it! )

Here in Ontario, Canada, mould is treated like UFFI. It must be disclosed if it exists...or has ever existed. Consumers...whether they be Sellers or Buyers should have some reassurance that a Home Inspector, especially one that is a "Certified Mould Inspector" will not make a mistake in identifying mould. To carelessly label a house with an "air quality hazard" is extremely negligent. 

It's not uncommon for a Seller to drop the price of their home based on deficiencies discovered during an Inspection. A vulnerable home owner, never suspecting that the "Home Inspector" may be wrong, may very well be willing to reduce the price of their home by thousands of dollars or perhaps have thousands of dollars worth the work done. Buyer and Seller beware!  

Tomorrow...hundreds of consumers will hand over three or four hundred dollars for home inspections. Some will be excellent and complete and others will be very erroneous and negligent. It's an industry out of control...and consumers are not only accepting it...they're paying for it in more ways than one. In the real estate chain of " Home Owner >  Realtor > Buyer > Mortgage Broker > Home Inspector > Lawyer"..the weakest and most unaccountable link is THE HOME INSPECTOR.  For the sake of all the good ones...it's time that action is taken against the bad!

Have you experienced a negligent Home Inspector??? Let me know...but remember...don't mention names or Company's...I would hate for you to end up getting sued! (now isn't that ironic!!)