If a home inspection is performed on your property and something on the property is damaged as a result of the inspection process, should the home inspector be held responsible? While you may assume that the answer to that question is an obvious yes, let us look at the reasons why the home inspector may not be to blame.
Think about the reason why a home inspection is carried out, it is to discover the condition of a property. Very often a home inspector will be accessing parts of the home that are almost never accessed by the homeowners themselves. These areas may very well have fallen into disrepair and started to decay. This means that the first person to discover the problem will be the home inspector. As an example, imagine some attic flooring has started rotting and when the home inspector steps on it, it breaks apart, could we say that this is the fault of the home inspector? No, they were not being too clumsy, rather they were just doing their job. In fact, the same thing would happen to anyone stepping on it.
This example highlights the fact that, while rare, sometimes damage can result from a home inspection. We must also mention, however, that we are not talking about the occasional accident that may result in damage to a household item like a vase or mirror, etc. we are talking about damage caused as a direct result of the home inspection.
No home inspector wants a home inspection to result in damage to the property, but if it does happen, we cannot automatically assume the inspector was being careless, they were probably just doing their job.
Think about the reason why a home inspection is carried out, it is to discover the condition of a property. Very often a home inspector will be accessing parts of the home that are almost never accessed by the homeowners themselves. These areas may very well have fallen into disrepair and started to decay. This means that the first person to discover the problem will be the home inspector. As an example, imagine some attic flooring has started rotting and when the home inspector steps on it, it breaks apart, could we say that this is the fault of the home inspector? No, they were not being too clumsy, rather they were just doing their job. In fact, the same thing would happen to anyone stepping on it.
This example highlights the fact that, while rare, sometimes damage can result from a home inspection. We must also mention, however, that we are not talking about the occasional accident that may result in damage to a household item like a vase or mirror, etc. we are talking about damage caused as a direct result of the home inspection.
No home inspector wants a home inspection to result in damage to the property, but if it does happen, we cannot automatically assume the inspector was being careless, they were probably just doing their job.
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