Nick
Please review. I hope I posted in the proper area.
I was informed my insurance carrier was no longer providing E & O (Hartford)
Felt was a good time to have contract reviewed.
Thanks!!
Not sure if this file is good, if not I will try to send another one.
This is a redefinition of an inspection, and one that does not benefit you because it puts no limit on how trivial a system or component can be for you to have a duty to inspect it.
Use this instead:
Note the phrase “deemed material.” Using InterNACHI’s suggested language, you only have a duty to report those defects YOU think are important, not everything.
First line has too much legalese in it for my tastes, especially for the first sentence of your agreement. Use plain English.
I won’t get into your referenced SOP, but as you can probably guess, I don’t much like it. Why would you want to reference an SOP that requires you to “describe the methods you used to inspect?” No one cares that much and it could lead to an argument that you failed to describe in painstaking detail all the methods you used to inspect something. Aaaaggghh. Use an SOP that is clean cut.
Dave, you aren’t on the border of Ohio. Why is this taking up space in your agreement?
Wouldn’t that be nice if it were true. Generally, I’m opposed to making outlandish statements in my agreements that won’t hold up in court anyway and which cause the court to look suspiciously at your otherwise reasonable clauses. I realize that InterNACHI’s agreement contains similar language.
This sentence should appear after you define “required notice” in the agreement.
All of a sudden, in the middle of your agreement, you go all CAPS with:
In general, I reserve ALL CAPS for those statements that I want to later (in court) point to, and argue that I gave prominence to them (by making them ALL CAPS) in an effort to be forthright with my client about this part of the agreement.
This is not a statement I would reserve for that situation.
Why fill your agreement up with crap like this. Are you really going to try to use this clause to justify a claim against your client’s family members should he/she fail to pay? C’mon.
This is a clause that is more appropriately placed near the end of your agreement, not in the middle where you have to awkwardly forward reference the second half (“following page”) of your agreement.
See my comment I made in previous post.
“acknowledged” how? By signature? This isn’t even on the same page as your signature lines. This would be more appropriately placed closer to the signature lines.
What is your ASHI # doing in a line designed to note who is present at the inspection?
Why do you care who the client agrees to release his/her report to? I think you meant to note if the client agrees to allow YOU to release the report to others. That’s not what your sentence notes.
General comments don’t represent an inspection, but specific ones do? Why did you use the phrase “an inspection?” Doesn’t this agreement only pertain to “the inspection” or “this inspection?”
Use this instead:
What does that mean? It’s oddly in blue and within parenthesis. Who is to exclude it from what?
Perhaps you meant to tie it to the end of paragraph 8, in which case you could just say “unless any of these inspection services were separately ordered and additionally paid for” or something like that.
Why not? Why should you care?
Of course. Nor will it include a proposal of a color scheme that can be used by an interior designer choosing furniture on your behalf.
You really need to trim your 2-page agreement some. Get rid of stuff like this.
You have another one in paragraph 12:
First of all, not enough time. You should be given 14 days, not just 72 hours. Notice can be by text?
Secondly, you don’t describe what else you want. Just 72 hours notice? After that notice, your client is free to do what he/she wants? You are not requiring an opportunity to reinspect?
Use InterNACHI’s suggested language:
That’s gibberish. You can’t waive an action.
Rewrite it having your client agree to not bring a legal action after one year if that is what you are trying to include in your agreement.