Does this increase your liability

Your liability is increased by placing a “move in certified” sign in the front yard. By doing this you are “ASSUMING” by the words on the move in certified website. That the sellers have done something “(CONFIRM) that there are no major systems in need of immediate repair or replacement and no known safety hazards.”

The sign reads “Homes pre-Inspected and ready” Homes meaning plural and would indicate all homes participating in this program are ready to move in. When in fact the inspector has no idea if the house is ready or if the sellers have fixed anything you may have found. The sellers are under no obligation to fix anything. Yet your sign reads its “ready” accompanied on the same sign are the words “Move in” certified. SO either this program is a big fat lie and a fraud. Or the inspector is taking on the liability of the house being “ready” to “move in”.

You can twist this around any way you like Nick but the fact is your liability has increased by participating in this program.

Give the man his $100!

Thanks Russ

Russell will be mailing your check soon!:smiley:

I already told Nick b4 That I was just doing it for fun and didn’t even want the money but would have liked the narratives CD :). In a country where people sue for everything from spilling their own hot coffee to breaking their hand using the toilet and win. I would at least think that one could get sued and perhaps loose.

I would think one would get “loose” either way, after court, win or lose. :mrgreen:

I got excited there for a minute. :mrgreen:

Nick Robert is 100% right.

Thank you Billy.

So you didn’t get the narrative CD? Are you serious?

LOL he hasn’t replied. :roll:

But its 9 to 4 against him!

The only person who can sue you is your client. No one else has “standing.”

I’d much rather do a sloppy home inspection for seller, who is helping me perform it, who is not relying on it, who is moving OUT of the home, and who has a buyer who is sending in his/her own inspector to catch anything I’ve missed and who takes on all the liability for me… than… the buyer, who IS relying on my report, and who is moving IN to the home and who doesn’t have any other inspector but me to blame.

It’s not even close.

Nick with the TKO!

Somebody should blog about this.

Joe Ferry has indicated an increased liability when inspecting for sellers by advising an addition to the inspection agreement.

From his blog:
Inspectors should make sure that their pre-listing inspection clients know that this report is for their information only and that they may not use it to allay their buyers’ anxiety. Pre-listing inspection agreements should also stress this point and include a provision requiring the seller to defend and indemnify the inspector should a buyer subsequently claim that he relied on the inspection report to his detriment.

Bam! Now give me the $100!:mrgreen:

The sign increases your liability by giving an attorney a strong angle to argue, especially if something occurs that causes the buyer to “move out of the house”.

Not exactly.

Help me to understand this thread.

We all know that we can significantly reduce our liability by keeping the truck in the driveway and throwing away our cell phones.

Limiting or decreasing our liability is not…or, at least in my opinion, should not…be the driving force behind our business plan.

What we do, however, is take steps to ensure that - in the course of marketing and performing our services - we expose ourselves to the least amount of liability that we can.

First and foremost, we do this through training, experience and applying our skills in such a manner that we do a good job.

Second, we minimize the possibilities for people wishing to exploit us for undue financial gain (i.e. frivolous law suits) by covering all the bases…but we all know that anyone can sue anyone for anything.

If you use the NACHI agreement…or wording therefrom…your client is paying you to report on only those defects that you find. Stop…reread what I just wrote…and let that sink in for just a moment.

After you reflect on that…Nick’s position on MIC will become much more clear to you.

Exactly.

You have a better chance of speaking with someone who has seen a UFO, then someone who has seen a MIC sign in someones yard. :wink: