Broken furnace - Inspector responsibility?

Question

I recently purchased a property out of state. I had it inspected before the purchase, obviously, and the inspection turned up pretty clean. Some renovations were needed, which were just completed. During the final cleanup, the manager sent out the HVAC tech to clean up the furnace, and he discovered that the furnace's heat exchanger has several cracks which can't be repaired. We are confident that this issue was present before I took ownership of the property, because since the closing there has been no gas supply to the unit, and the rollout limit switch (which had been tampered with) only trips when the flame distorts due to the cracks.

Does the inspector have any responsibility in all this? A broken furnace would definitely have factored in negotiations on the property.

Jeff Greenberg · Answer

Rivy S. That really is going to be up to you.  If you think that you can use that to leverage a repair allowance, it may help.  When I get the property inspection report back, I have the age of most of the mechanicals and I know that a % of them are near the end of their life. I put money in reserves and replace as needed.  Most of the properties I am buying are old and "as is" so I know going in there will be repairs.

If I was paying premium pricing, I would have a higher expectation of eveything being in working order.

Jeff Greenberg · Answer

Rivy S.

Jeff Greenberg · Answer

Rivy S. more than likely there was a disclaimer removing all liability to the inspector.  There are many things an inspector cannot see in a brief walk through inspection.  I would love to put liability for the lack of disclosure of the wood rot under the eaves, on the inspector, but they don't catch everything.

Rivy S. · Answer

@Jeff Greenberg  Do you recommend inspecting mechanicals separately? Is that a cost that you find is justified in the long term?

Rivy S. · Answer

@Jeff Greenberg @Jeff Rabinowitz @Corby Goade

Thank you all so much for responding.  I guess I'll just have to suck it up.  Yet another reminder as to the misleading nature of really exciting pro-formas...

Jeff Rabinowitz · Answer

Look at the contract you have with the inspector. It will probably exempt them from financial liability for anything they missed but there may be a way for you to get a refund of the inspection fee (or, at least, a partial refund) if you feel they performed poorly.

Corby Goade · Answer

It's doubtful. If home inspectors were held liable for any problem in a house that was not included in their report, they'd be broke after the first inspection they completed. It's not an ideal situation, but I'd venture to say that almost every investor has had a similar experience. Inspectors are not foolproof and there is a ton of things that could potentially go wrong with a house.

If you liked the inspector otherwise, you might give them a call and let them know about the issue you are having and see what they say. Maybe they'll say "too bad," but it's possible that they might offer to help, recommend someone for the repairs or possibly give you a break on your next inspection.