Negligent Home Inspection?

Long overdue, potential relief for home buyers for negligent home inspectors.

Beginning July 1, 2021, any residential home inspection performed in Ohio must be performed by licensed home inspectors. Until this time, Home inspectors were subject only to the vague and often unenforceable requirements of the American Society of Home Inspectors.

Instead, home inspectors must now be licensed pursuant to R.C. 4764.02. Conducting a home inspection without a license is now a criminal act.

The act does put some limitations on the ability to sue home inspectors for negligent inspections. If the home inspector is licensed, a homeowner only has one year to sue the inspector for the alleged negligence. The homeowner has to give the inspector an opportunity to review and remedy the alleged deficiencies before suing as well.

The big win here for homeowners, though, is the creation of the Home Inspection Recovery Fund. If you are able to obtain a judgment against a licensed home inspector, you may apply for payment to the fund rather than going through the arduous task of collecting against the inspector.

Finally, if the inspector was NOT licensed when they conducted the inspection after July 1, 2021, and they were negligent in their inspection, a homeowner may bring a claim against them for fraud if they represented that they were licensed when they were not.