FHA 'inspection Requirements' Vs State Law

[Restrain]

FHA now requires appraisers to certify the electrical, appliances, roof, etc as part of our 'inspection' AND FILE A WRITTEN REPORT as to their functioning correctly. Effective September 15, 2015. A written report would be so little as a statement that the appraiser inspected these items and found them operating satisfactorily and correctly.

I went out and did some research. Per Florida state law, if my wife does this, she has to be a licensed inspector. These items are now specifically covered under the licensing act for home inspectors. If she does these inspections and sets forth her findings in the appraisal report, she is conducting an unlicensed inspection and is subject to state fines, etc.

FHA declarations to the contrary that this report is not an inspection in their regulations, the act of doing the FHA mechanical and structural inspection does constitute a violation of licensing laws, and saying 'FHA said to do this' is not going to fly with state regulators.

I post this to warn other appraisers to check their state inspection licensing regulations so they do not get afoul of these conflicting laws and regulations.

 

[bnmappraisal]

WOW! Thank you for posting.

if my wife does this, she has to be a licensed inspector. These items are now specifically covered under the licensing act for home inspectors. If she does these inspections and sets forth her findings in the appraisal report, she is conducting an unlicensed inspection and is subject to state fines, etc.

If I remember correctly from prior posts, your wife is also an appraiser, correct?

 

[Howard Klahr]

As the scope of a property inspection for FHA has not changed in terms of the items you are addressing and the Florida Statue that you are referencing has been in place for several years, why is this now becoming an issue?

 

[Peter LeQuire]

Because HUD put all the requirements in one place where they could be found and read?

 

[TxArmadillo]

This topic was on the Facebook Appraiser network yesterday. The new FHA policy goes further than just saying that XX appliance is working on the day of inspection / testing. Without a change in verbiage on the 1004UAD, it now means that you are certifying by your signature that the appliances will work for a "reasonable" period after that inspection / testing / certification date.

Have fun with this one!

 

[bnmappraisal]

Another great thread regarding the "reasonable" period, etc ...

http://appraisersforum.com/forums/threads/FHA-inspection-requirements-vs-state-law.208422/

 

[bnmappraisal]

Damn... Wrong thread

 

[Gregory Beck]

I read the article and the lawyer thing is scary especially when he says If subject has gas heat and the occupants die 2 months after moving in of Carbon Monoxide poisoning. You the appraiser are in big trouble. You could be sued in a civil court. That could be costly. I think if I went to a house and it was in bad shape I would get back in the car go back home and tell the lender to reassign and I would tell them why. Not hanging myself out to dry.

 

[glenn walker]

Appraisers are getting too paranoid ** Dead people cannot testify and many death's from Co are suicide . I would love to see one case in which the appraiser was successfully sued for a Co death. First you cannot test a Co detector only check to see if the green or red light comes on. In order to test it you would need to create carbon monoxide . Just take a photo of the detector and push the button to see if it lights up and be done .

 

[CindyR]

Because HUD put all the requirements in one place where they could be found and read?

And there is so much discussion that everyone in the world now knows that the appraiser is checking all these things and making all these assertions that the mechanicals are working and sufficient and blah, blah, blah.

But, has anyone read a home inspection report recently? Those guys have more CYA BS in there than appraisers. Maybe you guys who are going to do FHA work should copy the 20 pages from the back of the home inspection report that says 'yes - I checked it but that doesn't mean it will ever work again so don't believe anything I said in this report'