A Question? Is it ethical for a home inspector to allow a buyer into the home while the inspection is made? The buyer rambled thru the home for an hour and then was left in the home after the inspector left. Something wrong here?
Yes, it is ethical. You agreed to allow a home inspection which includes having the buyer accompany the inspector.
Remember, once you enter into a sales agreement with the buyer, they buyer becomes an owner in equity of your home. You become a custodian of your home. You can’t remodel it. You can’t borrow against it. You are to simply care for it until closing.
Personally, unless the home owner was present, I would Not have let the buyer (my client) stay at the house alone, especially within the house, after I completed the inspection and was ready to leave. No way. If the owner is not home I lock all doors before I leave.
Same here…
Ditto!
Also… where were the realtors (Seller or Buyer) during the inspection? In my area, agents are required to attend the inspection if the buyers will be present, and many now even if the buyers are not present! If this is a FSBO, the seller needs to make any arrangements. The inspector is not a babysitter.
The buyer, seller and their agents are in a co-relationship that I am not part of. I am a service company hired to inspect a home and it is not my place to control their relationship. They should have permission to be there to measure or whatever unless they are coming to follow me and at that point I would set boundaries .
That is a call for the realtors involved
The person given the keys or code should be last to leave.
For sure!!!
I do not want to be involved if some thing goes missing.
In Ontario, Canada, unless a home is Vacant neither a home inspector nor a buyer should be given access to a property without either the Buyer’s or Seller’s Realtor being present or the owner of the property in an FSBO situation unless the owner signs a waiver.
This is a requirement under the rules of the Real Estate Council of Ontario.
I am not aware of your location so the rules may be different. as for the buyer being present during a home inspection, that is not a matter for ethics, it is a matter as already described. In law (and I believe this is the case everywhere) if you have agreed to a home inspection of your property then as long as you are aware of the person(s) inspecting the property you have no say over how long they attend or if they attend with other members of the family/purchasing team.
If the Home Inspector left the buyer at the premises and you were aware that the inspection was for that buyer and they would be presetn, then while may home inspectors would choose not to allow this, there is no restriction, unless covered in law, to stop the buyer staying on and inspecting further on their own.
Of course this is my opinion and you could choose to take this up with your local legal representatives, but I do not think this is an ethical question, more of professional courtesy to you as the seller on the part of the Inspector/Realtor to let you know who was in your home and for what reason.