Bill Text: CA AB1118 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Home inspectors.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-02-02 - From committee: Filed with the Chief Clerk pursuant to Joint Rule 56. [AB1118 Detail]
Download: California-2009-AB1118-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 1118 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JANUARY 4, 2010
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Hayashi
FEBRUARY 27, 2009
An act to amend Section 7195 Sections 7195
and 7197 of, and to add Section 7195.5
Sections 7195.5, 7195.7, and 7195.9 to, the Business and
Professions Code, relating to home inspectors.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1118, as amended, Hayashi. Home inspectors.
Existing law provides that it is the duty of a home inspector, as
defined, who is not licensed as a general contractor, structural pest
control operator, or architect, or registered as a professional
engineer, to conduct a home inspection with the degree of care that a
reasonably prudent home inspector would exercise. Existing law
provides that certain actions by a home inspector, a company that
employs the inspector, or a company that is controlled by a company
that also has a financial interest in a company employing a home
inspector, constitute an unfair business practice.
This bill would declare the intent of the Legislature to
adopt minimum qualifications for certification as a home inspector in
California, and would make conforming changes to a related provision
require any person who makes a home inspection on or
after January 1, 2012, to be certified by a home inspection
association, as defined, and to meet specified minimum experiential,
training, examination, and continuing education requirements, with a
specified exception. The bill would require the Office of
Professional Examination Services of the Department of Consumer
Affairs to approve by July 1, 2011, the examination that a home
inspector association is required to accept for certification of a
home inspector. The bill would also, on and after January 1, 2012,
require a home inspector to make specified written disclosures to a
client about his or her certification, experience, education, and
insurance coverage and require a home inspection associa
tion to publish and maintain active rosters of all of the home
inspectors certified by the association. The bill would provide that,
on and after January 1, 2012, it is an unfair business practice to
hold oneself out as being a home inspector or to issue a
home inspection report, unless one is certified .
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no
yes . State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 7195 of the Business and Professions Code is
amended to read:
7195. For purposes of this chapter, the following definitions
apply:
(a) (1) "Home inspection" is a noninvasive, physical examination,
performed for a fee in connection with a transfer, as defined in
subdivision (e), of real property, of the mechanical, electrical, or
plumbing systems or the structural and essential components of a
residential dwelling of one to four units designed to identify
material defects in those systems, structures and components. "Home
inspection" includes any consultation regarding the property that is
represented to be a home inspection or any confusingly similar term.
(2) "Home inspection," if requested by the client, may include an
inspection of energy efficiency . Energy efficiency items to be
inspected may include the following:
(A) A noninvasive inspection of insulation R-values in attics,
roofs, walls, floors, and ducts.
(B) The number of window glass panes and frame types.
(C) The heating and cooling equipment and water heating systems.
(D) The age and fuel type of major appliances.
(E) The exhaust and cooling fans.
(F) The type of thermostat and other systems.
(G) The general integrity and potential leakage areas of walls,
window areas, doors, and duct systems.
(H) The solar control efficiency of existing windows.
(b) A "material defect" is a condition that significantly affects
the value, desirability, habitability, or safety of the dwelling.
Style or aesthetics shall not be considered in determining whether a
system, structure, or component is defective.
(c) A "home inspection report" is a written report prepared for a
fee and issued after a home inspection. The report clearly describes
and identifies the inspected systems, structures, or components of
the dwelling, any material defects identified, and any
recommendations regarding the conditions observed or recommendations
for evaluation by appropriate persons.
(d) A "home inspector" is any individual who performs a home
inspection and , on and after January 1, 2012,
meets the qualifications of Section 7195.5.
(e) "Transfer" is a transfer by sale, exchange, installment land
sales contract, as defined in Section 2985 of the Civil Code, lease
with an option to purchase, any other option to purchase, or ground
lease coupled with improvements, of real property or residential
stock cooperative, improved with or consisting of not less than one
nor more than four dwelling units.
(f) A "home inspection association" is an organization of home
inspectors or companies in the home inspection industry that is
organized under Section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code and
registered with the Secretary of State and that, on and after January
1, 2012, certifies, without requiring membership in the association,
that a home inspector has met the criteria set forth in Section
7195.5.
SEC. 2. Section 7195.5 is added to the Business and Professions
Code, to read:
7195.5. It is the intent of the Legislature to adopt minimum
qualifications for certification as a home inspector in California.
7195.5. (a) On and after January 1, 2012, no person
shall conduct a home inspection unless he or she is certified
pursuant to the requirements set forth in this section.
(b) As a condition of becoming certified, a home inspector shall
demonstrate to a home inspection association that he or she has
satisfied all of the following requirements:
(1) Performed at least 250 home inspections under the direct
supervision of a home inspector or has completed at least 120 hours
of formal home inspection training, 40 of which shall have been in
the form of an unpaid field-based practicum in the performance of
home inspections.
(2) Passed within the last five years an examination attesting to
his or her competence in the field of home inspection that has been
approved by the Office of Professional Examination Services of the
Department of Consumer Affairs.
(c) As a condition of maintaining his or her certification, a home
inspector shall annually demonstrate to a home inspection
association that he or she has completed at least 20 hours of
continuing education in the preceding 12 months.
(d) The Office of Professional Examination Services of the
Department of Consumer Affairs shall approve the examination
specified in paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) on or before July 1,
2011.
(e) The examination requirement specified in paragraph (2) of
subdivision (b) shall not apply to a home inspector who had already
passed a recognized examination in the field of home inspection prior
to January 1, 2012.
SEC. 3. Section 7195.7 is added to the
Business and Professions Code , to read:
7195.7. Prior to beginning a home inspection on or after January
1, 2012, a home inspector shall disclose in writing to the party on
whose behalf the home inspection is being performed, all of the
following:
(a) A statement disclosing the name, address, and telephone number
of the home inspection association by which the home inspector is
certified and the date of his or her initial certification.
(b) A statement relating to the home inspector's experience and
education.
(c) A statement disclosing whether the home inspector maintains
professional liability insurance and, if so, the amount of coverage.
(d) A statement disclosing whether the home inspector maintains
general business liability insurance and, if so, the amount of
coverage.
SEC. 4. Section 7195.9 is added to the
Business and Professions Code , to read:
7195.9. On and after January 1, 2012, a home inspection
association that certifies home inspectors under this chapter shall
publish and maintain an active roster of all of the home inspectors
it currently certifies.
SEC. 5. Section 7197 of the Business
and Professions Code is amended to read:
7197. (a) It is an unfair business practice for a home inspector,
a company that employs the inspector, or a company that is
controlled by a company that also has a financial interest in a
company employing a home inspector, to do any of the following:
(1) To perform Perform or offer to
perform, for an additional fee, any repairs to a structure on which
the inspector, or the inspector's company, has prepared a home
inspection report in the past 12 months.
(2) Inspect for a fee any property in which the inspector, or the
inspector's company, has any financial interest or any interest in
the transfer of the property.
(3) To offer Offer or deliver any
compensation, inducement, or reward to the owner of the inspected
property, the broker, or agent, for the referral of any business to
the inspector or the inspection company.
(4) Accept an engagement to make an inspection or to prepare a
report in which the employment itself or the fee payable for the
inspection is contingent upon the conclusions in the report,
preestablished findings, or the close of escrow.
(5) On and after January 1, 2012, hold oneself out as a "home
inspector" or "certified home inspector" or use any confusingly
similar title, designation, or descriptor without having met the
requirements for certification prescribed in Section 7195.5.
(6) On and after January 1, 2012, issue a home inspection report,
as described in subdivision (a) of Section 7195, without having met
the requirements for certification set forth in Section 7195.5.
(5)
(b) A home protection company that is affiliated with
or that retains the home inspector does not violate this section if
it performs repairs pursuant to claims made under the home protection
contract.
(b)
(c) This section shall not affect the ability of a
structural pest control operator to perform repairs pursuant to
Section 8505 as a result of a structural pest control inspection.
