Rental Inspections

[cbollin]

I do not think New York requires an inspection before an apartment or home is rented out. I know this type of inspection is not as in depth for an apartment but how in depth is it? Do other States require this type of inspection? Does anybody have any suggestion on how to proceed with this for the agreement and the actual inspection? The agreement I have are for Home Inspections and goes into great detail of what is covered and what is excluded.

[resqman]

You can always check with your states home inspection licensure board for the specific rules and laws regarding home inspections.

At this point, I do not believe any state requires home inspections during the sale of property. Some mortgage companies are requiring them before they will issue a loan and some insurance companies are requiring them before they will insure the property. I seriously doubt any state would require an inspection for rental properties in they are not required for sales.

A home inspection of rental property by a renter would provide the renter with much information about the property. I am not sure of the usefulness of that information to the renter. The property owner is usually responsible for maintenance of the property. Typically if a renter determines there is a problem with the property, they contact the rental management company and report the problem.

A typical home inspection would determine any safety or habitability issues. If there were too many, as a renter, I would just rent a different property. I can't imagine too many renters willing to pay the fee for an inspection, turn the report over to the property owner, and then demand they be fixed prior to signing a rental agreement.

If a renter already has an existing contract and the property owner will not fix obvious and ongoing problems, then an inspection could be used as leverage to document the severity of the problems to encourage the property owner to fix problems. Even then, it seems like the renter would just break the lease and move rather than fight with a property owner who has not fixed obvious and ongoing problems.

In North Carolina, only home inspections performed for a real estate transaction are covered by the licensing board. A warranty inspection or maintenance inspection would not fall under their jurisdiction so could be performed to whatever standard the inspector deems necessary. I would expect if a warranty or maintenance inspection went to court, it would probably be held to very similar standards as buyer inspection unless the contract explicitly stated otherwise

[Scottpat]

I don't know of any states that require rental inspections. It would be a local city or town requirement.

[hausdok]

Scott has it,

Over the past couple of years, many municipalities have begun requiring inspections of rental properties by muni inspectors in order to ensure that those properties were safe for habitation. Those inspections are typically paid for by the landlord - not a prospective tenant. A small number of cities have begun requiring inspections of properties for sale by muni inspectors before they can be sold and there are some that are considering such legislation. I see those stories occasionally in the feeds I get but I usually don't post them because they aren't exactly the kind of thing that most home inspectors are going to want to get involved in.

When I say "many municipalities" I'm referring to a couple of dozen, not hundreds or thousands, so it's not like it's a national trend or anything like that yet but those cities are being watched closely by many others that see the inspections as a win-win situation in that it raises revenue to support the muni home inspection budget while showing that the city fathers care about those folks who are in a situation where they must rent and it's intended to prevent slumlords from screwing people over.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[Brandon Chew]

Originally posted by hausdok

Scott has it,

Over the past couple of years, many municipalities have begun requiring inspections of rental properties by muni inspectors in order to ensure that those properties were safe for habitation. Those inspections are typically paid for by the landlord - not a prospective tenant. A small number of cities have begun requiring inspections of properties for sale by muni inspectors before they can be sold and there are some that are considering such legislation. I see those stories occasionally in the feeds I get but I usually don't post them because they aren't exactly the kind of thing that most home inspectors are going to want to get involved in.

When I say "many municipalities" I'm referring to a couple of dozen, not hundreds or thousands, so it's not like it's a national trend or anything like that yet but those cities are being watched closely by many others that see the inspections as a win-win situation in that it raises revenue to support the muni home inspection budget while showing that the city fathers care about those folks who are in a situation where they must rent and it's intended to prevent slumlords from screwing people over.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

Yeah, that's the type of inspection I think of for required pre-occupancy inspections, and that's my understanding of it as well. It would be a local, not a state requirement.

These types of inspections are usually based upon something like the ICC's International Property Maintenance Code. Here's the scope section of that document:

101.2 Scope. The provisions of this code shall apply to all existing residential and nonresidential structures and all existing premises and constitute minimum requirements and standards for premises, structures, equipment and facilities for light, ventilation, space, heating, sanitation, protection from the elements, life safety, safety from fire and other hazards, and for safe and sanitary maintenance; the responsibility of owners, operators and occupants; the occupancy of existing structures and premises.

For a residential occupancy, the IPMC essentially defines the bare minimum legal requirements that make the building livable for people inside it and safe for those walking outside it. It's what the building official uses to condemn structures and evict tenants if conditions at an existing building are unsafe. At about 30 pages in length, the IPMC is much less detailed than the code that would apply to a new house or to work being done in an existing house; the International Residential Code runs about 650 pages.

I think the original poster is looking for help in defining the scope of work and an inspection agreement for inspecting an apartment for a potential renter, before their client signs the lease agreement, but I'm not really sure. It would be helpful if the original poster clarified who the client is (renter, landlord, muni?), and what their interest is in the property being inspected.

[John Dirks Jr]

Baltimore County Maryland has rental inspections. I do one here and there. The actual requirements are not too stringent.

At the link below you can open the inspection sheet to see the form we are required to fill out. The job also requires pictures of the front and rear of the property with lot included if applicable.

http://www.baltimorecountymd.gov/Agenci ... index.html

[kurt]

I've done them. I follow the general standard Brandon posted. Safety, health, general condition, etc.

I take dozens of photos, resize them so they're not huge, and provide them to the customer as a statement of condition when they rented. Lots of photos of flooring, walls, ceilings, appliances, and finishes. Very handy for tenants when they have conflicts w/sleaze landlords that trump up conditions so they can keep the security deposit.

This goes to what Ghent said a while back. Less fortunate types need us a hell of a lot more than rich people. Renters need advocates.

[Dale Baker]

Howdy Y'all

Up here in New Hampshire, they don't require that apartment or homes that folk's are going to be renting, in any of the citys or towns in my area. Need to be inspected. I do offer inspections for those folk's. The inspection that I do for them more in the way of helping the folk's with geting their security deposit back when they go to move on.

Howdy Scott how ya a doen?

[Michael Brown]

It is mandatory in BC... (the whole province) and if you don't use one it affects your ability to retain or get back a security deposit. Most of the time the landlord and tenant fill it out, agree to it and sign it at the beginning and the end of the tenancy.

Here is a link to the form:

http://www.rto.gov.bc.ca/documents/RTB-27.pdf

Michael Brown

http://www.devwave.com

[Scottpat]

Originally posted by Dale Baker

Howdy Y'all

Up here in New Hampshire, they don't require that apartment or homes that folk's are going to be renting, in any of the citys or towns in my area. Need to be inspected. I do offer inspections for those folk's. The inspection that I do for them more in the way of helping the folk's with geting their security deposit back when they go to move on.

Howdy Scott how ya a doen?

Hi Dale, doing good and glad to see you posting.

Scott

[StevenT]

I live in New York and don't know of anyrequired rental inspections... EXCEPT those done by certain gov't agencies that subsidize rent.

They look for safety items such as window guards, exposed wiring, missing outlet/switch plates, peeling paint, smoke/CO2 detectors, size of rooms.

Each bedroom must have a closet, window, heating source. they check doors, hardware, hot water.

I recently had one of my rentals inspected. They failed it because there was no hot water. It did not matter that the gas was shut off until a new tenant would have the service turned on. Same situation if there are no lights.

Window guards must be installed with "one way" screws.

They also checked exhaust fan in bathroom, look for floor surface problems and anything else that is wrong. Refrigerator, stove. Windows must lock, etc, etc.

[hoytt]

These types of inspections are usually based upon something like the ICC's International Property Maintenance Code. Here's the scope section of that document:

101.2 Scope. The provisions of this code shall apply to all existing residential and nonresidential structures and all existing premises and constitute minimum requirements and standards for premises, structures, equipment and facilities for light, ventilation, space, heating, sanitation, protection from the elements, life safety, safety from fire and other hazards, and for safe and sanitary maintenance; the responsibility of owners, operators and occupants; the occupancy of existing structures and premises.

I have been getting my code info from: http://public.resource.org/bsc.ca.gov/ However, I can't seem to find the maintenance code. Does anyone have a link where this can be found?

Thank you,

Larry Hoytt

Marin County, CA

[lowlow0565]

Here in Texas, no inspector is doing that as part of there business. I thought of that idea back in July 08 and I have made over $2000.00 doing renters inspections. And as of today, I have 3 businesses that use me for there inspections. If you want to know how I did it, email me at providermain@yahoo.com. BEST KEPT SECRET !!!

[Richard Moore]

You can also order his book "How to inspect your home before selling" at http://basichomeinspection.com/6.html .

Want to sell your home without a Real Estate Agent?

Do you want to have your house inspected without hiring a professional inspector?

Do you know what the home inspector is checking when performing a home inspection?

This book gives advice and recommendation from a professional inspector observation to homeowners. The information in this book is a list of common defects inspectors find when conducting a home inspection. By purchasing this book. Sellers can minimize there repair list and help reduce the cost of repairs that need to be completed before closing.

To order the book, send check or money order payable BH Inspection in the amount of $30.00 to purchase the book and cover shipping and handling to:

BH Inspections

P.O. Box 3408

HarkerHeights, Texas 76548

To use a credit card, click on the sellers link. And go to the bottom of the page.

I can almost hear "But wait...there's more!"

[hausdok]

Originally posted by lowlow0565

Here in Texas, no inspector is doing that as part of there business. I thought of that idea back in July 08 and I have made over $2000.00 doing renters inspections. And as of today, I have 3 businesses that use me for there inspections. If you want to know how I did it, email me at providermain@yahoo.com. BEST KEPT SECRET !!!

Two words; click here.

[Chad Fabry]

You can also order his book "How to inspect your home before selling" at http://basichomeinspection.com/6.html

I have to give this guy credit. He's written two books and his own copy for the website that sells the books.

That's a significant achievement when it's obvious that English is not his primary language.

[Tom Raymond]

Originally posted by hausdok

[!

Two words; click here.

Uhh Mike,

That's three words[:-graduat

Tom