Law to force licensing for inspectors

Home inspectors say they feel pressure from time to time from some real estate brokers to overlook problems in a home. But conditions for inappropriately cozy relations between brokers and home inspectors will see a slight chill after Jan. 1, when a new state law requiring building inspectors to pass rigorous licensing requirements goes into effect. Drafted to tighten a regulatory framework that allows anyone, regardless of their professional background, to hang out a shingle and charge $500 for a single-family home inspection, the law means newcomers to the field must log 140 hours of instruction and pass a written exam administered by the New York Department of State.

Because the law exempts architects and engineers who already have state professional licenses, and who largely make up the ranks of home inspectors in the city, real estate professionals in New York expect the new requirements to have little practical effect on business within the city.

Urban brokers expect to see little change in the pool of their professional colleagues, said Marolyn Davenport, senior vice president of The Real Estate Board of New York.

“We had no objection to the law, being the organization that represents the real estate industry,” she said. “In New York City, I think the majority of your home inspectors now are licensed professionals.”

Home inspectors said the law was drafted with consumer protection in mind, and that their professional organizations have worked with the state to create licensing criteria.

“It started out because a legislator in Albany got screwed by a home inspector, or they thought they did,” said Paul Gressin, vice president of the local chapter of the National Association of Home Inspectors (NAHI). Rochester legislator Susan John, a Democrat, sponsored the bill signed in September by Gov. George Pataki.

Consumers who felt defrauded in the past had little recourse besides small claims court. Under the new law, a review board will hear consumer complaints. Penalties could include license revocations and fines.

“This should eliminate all the home inspectors who happen to be tradesmen and think they’re going to inspect the house, because they know a little bit about electricity,” said Robert Johann, president of the local NAHI chapter.

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Initially, the law proposed that the New York Real Estate Board, a division of the Department of State, handle licensing, but inspectors opposed the plan. Both Johann and Gressin said inspectors occasionally feel pressure from brokers to overlook problems in a home.

“A good broker says, ‘These things are wrong. We know they’re wrong, and let’s discuss how we can go ahead with this deal,'” Gressin said. “A bad broker will say, ‘That engineer, that home inspector, is a bum. He’s making me work hard and maybe risk losing a commission.'”

The law as currently written provides for a review board consisting of a Department of State representative, three home inspectors and three owners of residences.

But as Davenport pointed out, most inspectors in the city are licensed architects and engineers, none of whom will require licensing to do inspections. That is one of the last remaining criticisms home inspectors have of the law.

Gressin said a licensed civil engineer with decades of experience building bridges doesn’t necessarily know his way around a boiler or roof flashing. He said he knows, because he’s training one right now.

“Our argument is that architects and engineers should at least have to take the qualifying exam,” he said. “But we realize no law is going to be perfect.”

Davenport disagreed.

“It’s equally true that not every lawyer does estates,” she said. “You might not go to a malpractice lawyer to have your will written, but there is some assumption in that professional license that if you do, they are putting it on the line and won’t go beyond their expertise.”

“In the case of the architects and engineers, their license is on the line when they put their stamp on something.” 

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