Washington Home Inspectors What You Need to Know
Washington State Home Inspector law passed the Legislature in 2008. The Department of Licensing enacted accompanying rules and began issuing licenses in 2009. However, prior to July 2009 the Washington home inspection profession was wide open to anyone with a name and a clipboard. There were no mandated education or experience requirements as well as no required standards of practice to adhere to. The only thing anyone had to do to be qualified was obtain a structural pest inspector license from the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA).
With the passage of RCW 18.280 and WAC 308-408 everything changed for the Washington home inspection profession. The law and rules prescribe phased-in licensing and standards of practice for residential property inspectors. As far as licensing requirements all home inspectors have until July 1, 2010 to complete the education and field training requirements and the home inspector state and national exam to become licensed. After July 1, 2010 real estate licensees must only refer clients to licensed home inspectors. There are many binding standards of practice laws home inspectors must abide by and real estate licensees also need to be familiar with the Washington home inspection rules as they will directly impact their clients.
The Standards of Practice requires home inspectors to execute a written inspection contract prior to every home inspection. The contract must clearly specify what an inspector will and will not inspect, and any special conditions.
Some other Standard of Practice requirements include:
Disclosure Requirements, which state prior to an inspection, home inspectors are required to give clients written disclosure of any personal or business relationships between the home inspector and any other interested party involved in the transaction.
The Mandatory Thoroughness Requirement says that home inspectors must do a complete and thorough home inspection, detailing what must be inspected and what information is to be included in the written report. The same standard of care is required for all home inspectors, meaning they must go onto roofs, into attics and crawlspaces and traverse each of them when performing the inspection.
Safety Device Requirements require home inspectors to verify the proper operation of certain safety devices, such as smoke detectors, ground fault circuit interrupters (GFCI) and arc-fault circuit interrupters (AFCI).
Home Inspector Ethics sets out ethical boundaries for how a home inspector may interact with buyers, sellers and real estate licensees before, during, and after an inspection. Most significantly, home inspectors are prohibited from performing repairs or offering services, other than the home inspection, to the owners of any home inspected, for at least a year after the date of the home inspection report. This also includes anyone employed by the same company as the home inspector.
Pest Reporting standards of practice states that home inspectors who are not licensed as structural pest inspectors cannot, in their home inspection report, identify damage that is suspected to be the result of wood destroying organisms. They are only allowed to make incidental observations of possible wood destroying organisms and their damage and must refer clients to a WSDA licensed structural pest inspector for proper identification, assessment of damage, and appropriate control measures.
Please keep in mind that in normal residential real estate transactions a home inspector works for a buyer and not for the real estate licensee. It is extremely important to talk with your real estate agent about having a home inspection and be sure they are familiar with the statutes and rules governing home inspectors. Realtors who are knowledgeable on what is covered in a home inspection can go a long way in helping close your transaction and minimize issues.
The laws and rules for home inspectors can be found at:
