North America
In Canada and the United States, a contract to purchase a house may include a contingency that the contract is not valid until the buyer, through a home inspector or other agents, has had an opportunity to verify the condition of the property. In many states and provinces, home inspectors are required to be licensed, but in some states the profession is not regulated. Typical requirements for obtaining a license are the completion of an approved training course and/or a successful examination by the state's licensing board. Several states and provinces also require inspectors to periodically obtain continuing education credits in order to renew their licenses.
In May 2001, Massachusetts became the first state to recognize the potential conflict of interest when real estate agents selling a home also refer or recommend the home inspector to the potential buyer. As a result the real estate licensing law in Massachusetts was amended to prohibit listing real estate agents from directly referring home inspectors. The law also prohibits listing agents from giving out a "short" name list of inspectors. The only list that can be given out is the complete list of all licensed home inspectors in the state.
Ancillary services such as inspections for WDI (wood destroying insect), radon testing, septic tank inspections, water quality, mold & private well inspections are sometimes a part of home inspector's services if duly qualified.
In many provinces and states, the practical standards for home inspectors are those enacted by professional associations such as (In the United States, Canada and Internationally) the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors (InterNACHI), (In the United States) the American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI), the National Academy of Building Inspection Engineers (NABIE), the National Association of Home Inspectors (NAHI), and ( In Canada) the Canadian Association of Home and Property Inspectors (CAHPI), Professional Home & Property Inspectors of Canada (PHPIC) and Canadian National Association of Certified Home Inspectors (CanNACHI).
Currently, more than thirty U.S. states regulate the home inspection industry in some form.
Read more about this topic: Home Inspection
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“Civilization does not engross all the virtues of humanity: she has not even her full share of them. They flourish in greater abundance and attain greater strength among many barbarous people. The hospitality of the wild Arab, the courage of the North American Indian, and the faithful friendships of some of the Polynesian nations, far surpass any thing of a similar kind among the polished communities of Europe.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)