How long would you carry your E&O.....

[pdacey]

.....after you stopped inspecting? I moved out of TX last July and have no plans in the near future to do home inspections. I kept my E&O through this year just on the off chance something came up. It's a year since my last inspection. I had about 800 inspections over 3 years. Only one call back for something that was a non-issue. The client was just looking for information more then anything else.

I'm pretty sure the statute of limitations on a home inspection in TX is 4 years. Would you continue to carry the E&O until the 4 years have passed?

I'm thinking about not renewing for next year. Any advice?

[kmiller1]

I may be wrong, check with your agent, but I would think you would be covered because you carried it at the time of the inspection. They would be suing over an inspection covered by it, so I would expect it to still cover what it had covered. Check with your agent, though.

[Claude Lawrenson]

I was mandated to carry mine for 1 year after retiring by the provincial association.

Ultimately though depending on your jurisdiction the inspector could be liable for E&O up to 7 years after date of discovery. - That's not date of the inspection - but the date after discovery of the significant deficiencies by the client.

[Greg Bell]

Ken
I hate to tell you that you are wrong but you are. The coverage ends once your policy is canceled or not renewed.

pdacey

That is a decision that only you can make. Do you have any assets that you could lose if you are sued?

That is one of the nice things about Florida. We can protect our assets so that if someone does decide to sue then there is nothing to get.

[pdacey]

[quote=gbell]That is a decision that only you can make. Do you have any assets that you could lose if you are sued? [quote]


I know, I'm just seeing what opinions are out there on the subject. And yes I do have assets in my name.

[Michael R. Boyett]

Patrick...I think you are looking for 'tail coverage', right? Every so often I have to go read up again on claims made, occurrence and tail coverage to understand the options. I can't keep it straight for some reason. Anyway, you might be able to purchase tail coverage for your particular situation at a reasonable cost.

[Blaine Wiley]

Pat,

Remember that you now reside in the "Peoples Republic of Maryland".

They are very suit happy!!

[Ben L. Garrison]

Here's the deal: IF you have a "Claims Made" policy, the policy must be in force at the time the claim was made. If you terminate it without purchasing a "tail" policy, you have no coverage.

Alternatively, if you purchased an "Occurence" based policy, that generally comes with a 4 year tail built in. You will pay a higher price up front for this type of policy.

To give you an example of what you might pay for a tail, I can tell you that FREA offers 1 year tail coverage for 35% of the previous years dues. Or 4 years for 75%.

Mr. Bell, aside from the Homestead Act, how does Florida enable you to protect your assets more so than othe states? I'm asking merely out of curiosity.

[Larry D. Kage]

Originally Posted by bwiley

Pat,

Remember that you now reside in the "Peoples Republic of Maryland".

They are very suit happy!!

I think he did the inspections in Texas before he move to Maryland so the question is "Does Maryland have an extradition treaty with Texas?"

[pdacey]

Originally Posted by bwiley

Pat,

Remember that you now reside in the "Peoples Republic of Maryland".

They are very suit happy!!

yeah but I'm from Jersey, I still got some east coast attitude in me.

[pdacey]

Ben,

Thanks for the info. I'll have to check with my carrier about tail coverage. I have a "claims made" policy.

[Scott Schultz]

by the way, who was the genius that came up with a claims made policy? You got to love insurance that you pay for and are insured at the time of said inspection, but then cancel your policy and the insurance doesn't have to pay even though you were covered by them on that date. claims made policies should be outlawed as they are the biggest rip-off around.

[Russel Ray]

Originally Posted by pdacey

Only one call back for something that was a non-issue. The client was just looking for information more then anything else.

That's more common than one thinks, which is why I highly recommend continued follow-ups after the inspection. I follow up after 3 days, after 14 days, after 30 days, when I know escrow has closed, 30 days after escrow closed, 90 days after escrow closed, six months after inspection, and annually forever after the inspection.

[Russel Ray]

Hey, Patrick.

If your company no longer exists in Texas, and you are no longer in Texas, I see no reason to have tail coverage on your Texas inspections, even if you still have personal assets in Texas.

Real estate is a state thing, so you'll probably find that you can't be sued in Maryland for real estate problems in Texas. We commonly have that problem here in California with so many people moving out of state. They'll fail to disclose something significant, and then when the buyer decides to go sue, he finds that the sellers are now in a different state and can't be sued. We call it "disclosure by flight," i.e., "I'm fleeing to another state so any disclosures that I should have made won't affect me."

The exception would be if your real estate problems in Texas resulted in death or personal injury. Consequently, if I were in the same situation, I would not continue tail coverage.

[kmiller1]

Morning, Greg. I have Occurence E&O, and am covered for 2 years after an inspection that was covered by my insurance at the time the inspection was performed. That was why I said for him to check with his agent. I wasn't sure if all policies were written like mine is.

Heck, If I'm wrong, just tell me. Been wrong before, and probabley will be again.