In a few days the Minimum Inspection Standards for Texas Licensed Real Estate Inspectors will take a dramatic turn for the worse.
No longer will Inspectors be required to inform their home buying clients that they are buying a house with improper drainage.
No longer will Inspectors be required to inform their home buying clients that they are buying a house with improper ventilation.
No longer will Inspectors be required to inform their home buying clients that they are buying a house with less than safe water pressure.
The Standards of Practice (SoP) that the Texas Licensed Real Estate Inspectors must follow is now being dissected and shaped to create a ‘performance based’ inspection.
Simply put, the standards that go into effect on January 1st, 2014 allow an Inspector to arbitrarily decide whether improper conditions need to be shared with their clients.
Texas has led the nation in structural failures. Foundation failures often occur when improper drainage is present. In just another week the new SoP will allow Inspectors to ignore this condition and not even mention to their client that the drainage is capable of causing foundation damage.
Building Codes dictate that homes, at a minimum, must be constructed using specific strictures/requirements.
The upcoming Minimum Inspection Standards allow Inspectors to ignore long established Codes and simply say nothing to their clients about dangerous and costly conditions.
The Code of Federal Regulation (CFR), as they relate to residential construction (your potential home) has specific requirements concerning drainage, ventilation, and other areas of construction.
The upcoming Minimum Inspection Standards allow Inspectors ignore these CFR requirements.
There are questions surrounding why the Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC) Commissioners have caused this to happen.
There are questions surrounding the make-up of the Inspector Advisory Committee at TREC and how the Committee has devolved from a group comprised solely of Professional Inspectors to one that is primarily a group that is comprised of individuals with ties to the real estate sales community.
If a home buyer is under-informed or simply not told of defects in the home they are buying and the Inspector is following Standards set forth by the TREC Commissioners and their allies on the Inspector Advisory Committee, what is the liability that the Commissioners and the Advisory Committee members have?
If a member of the TREC Inspector’s Advisory Committee spearheads Inspection Standards that put Texas home buyers across the state at risk of buying a home that will have higher utility bills, roof coverings with shorter life-spans, air conditioning systems with shorter life-spans, and foundation movement, should that Inspector Advisory Committee member be held liable?
If a member of the Inspector’s Advisory Committee owns an Inspector’s education school that teaches Inspectors and profits from changes to the SoP, should that member be allowed to remain on the Advisory Committee? Should that member be held liable when a homebuyer buys a home with defects?
What about the TREC Commissioners who have known about this conflict-of-interest for years?
The Texas Real Estate Commission is charged with protecting the public. For decades, they have mismanaged that responsibility.
The Texas Real Estate Commission Commissioners, its Administrator and the special interest groups and associations that funnel money to the State Legislature and Governor’s office, and the Inspector’s Advisory Committee members need a closer look from the Justice Department to determine just how we got to a point where TREC Rules and other laws have been formulated that impede and impair full-disclosure to home buyers.
Are the TREC Commissioners and the Advisory Committee members immune from civil liabilities or can they be pursued in the courts by home buyers that have been harmed by the SoP and other Rules that allow careless inspections and a lack of full-disclosure?
Honest and hard working real estate agents need to know that they have a Rule-making Commission that creates Rules that foster full-disclosure and an atmosphere of integrity throughout the industry.
Real Estate Inspectors need to be moved out from under the control of TREC.
