HOME BUYING
From Listings to Living
The inspector climbs out of the crawl space and you ask three things at once: would he buy this house, was the garage addition permitted, and could his crew fix the sagging deck stairs next week? He says no to all three, politely, like someone who hears them every Saturday.
So what are home inspectors not allowed to do? The limits come in three layers. Some are legal bans: in Florida and Texas, for example, an inspector may not repair what they inspected, may not pay agents for referrals, and may not inspect when their pay depends on the findings or the closing. Some are licensing walls: an inspector is not your engineer, pest control operator, surveyor, appraiser or lawyer. The rest are exclusions in the standards of practice, such as code compliance, repair estimates, destructive testing and anything hidden behind finishes or furniture, which the inspector is not required to do but may offer as an extra.
Knowing which layer a gap belongs to tells you who to call. The system-by-system view of what the inspection does cover is in our home inspection checklist. This guide is about the edges of the home inspector scope of work.
Leevli Editorial Team
Where a state licenses inspectors, some ethics rules become prohibitions with penalties attached. Florida and Texas spell theirs out in unusual detail, which makes them useful examples even if you are buying elsewhere.
Florida Statutes 468.8319 lists what a person may not do. Among the items, an inspector may not:
A violation of that section is a first-degree misdemeanor. If you are buying in Winter Park or anywhere else in Florida and the inspector offers to replace the rotted fascia he just wrote up, he is offering something the statute forbids.
The Texas Real Estate Commission's professional conduct rule, 22 Tex. Admin. Code 535.220, says an inspector shall not:
Say the inspector on a bungalow in Houston's The Heights flags a failing water heater (an illustrative case). A quote from that inspector's own company to replace it next month falls inside the rule's 12-month window.
Rules differ by state, and not every state's law spells out prohibitions this specifically. Where yours is silent, the inspector's trade association code, if they belong to one, may be the main written limit. ASHI's code of ethics has its own repair and referral restrictions, covered in our guide to what to ask a home inspector before hiring. Check your own state's licensing board for the version that applies to you.
The second layer is about professional boundaries. The current ASHI Standard of Practice says inspectors are not required to perform "architectural, engineering, contracting, or surveying services," or acts "contrary to law or to government regulations." The InterNACHI Standards of Practice say the inspector is not required to offer "any trade or professional service other than a home inspection." Texas goes further in 22 Tex. Admin. Code 535.227: the inspector is not required to "recommend or provide engineering, architectural, appraisal, mitigation, physical surveying, realty, or other specialist services."
In practice, five questions land outside the report:
That last item surprises buyers. An inspector can tell you a fence looks newer than the house. Whether it sits on a recorded easement, whether the addition had a permit, and what your contract lets you do about either are legal questions, and that is the job a real estate lawyer is paid for. Our guide to how much a real estate lawyer costs explains the fees and when buyers need one. Recorded limits on use are their own topic, explained in what restrictive covenants are.
Insurability sits outside the report too: InterNACHI and the Texas standard both exclude it. In Florida, an insurer may ask for a separate form, explained in what a 4-point inspection is.
The third layer is scope. These are things the inspector is not required to do, which is different from being forbidden. Many inspectors sell some of them as add-ons. The table sorts the common home inspection out of scope items by where the limit comes from and who covers the gap.
| Limit | Where it comes from | Who covers the gap |
|---|---|---|
| Repairing what they inspected | Florida 468.8319 (no time limit); Texas 535.220 (12 months) | An independent contractor |
| Inspecting when pay depends on findings or closing | Florida 468.8319; Texas 535.220 | Pay the inspector yourself, up front |
| Code compliance | ASHI, InterNACHI, Texas standards | Local building department; permit records |
| Repair cost estimates | InterNACHI; Texas standard; ASHI (costs of corrections) | Contractor quotes |
| Dismantling or destructive testing | ASHI and InterNACHI (no dismantling required); Texas (no destructive testing of sound materials) | A specialist, with the seller's permission |
| Moving furniture or stored items | ASHI, InterNACHI | The seller clears access before the visit |
| Termites and other pests | ASHI, Texas standard | Licensed pest inspector |
| Mold, radon, asbestos, lead | InterNACHI (mold, radon); Texas (asbestos, lead, mold) | Environmental testing |
| Sewer line interior | Texas standard (no sewer cameras required) | Plumber with a sewer scope |
| Boundaries and encroachments | InterNACHI | Licensed surveyor |
| Title, easements, permits, contract terms | Not covered by ASHI, InterNACHI or Texas standards | Real estate attorney, title company |
The Texas standard says an inspection does not require "any method employing destructive testing that damages otherwise sound materials or finishes." ASHI and InterNACHI both say the inspector is not required to dismantle systems or components. The inspector does not own the house, and opening a wall without the owner's consent is not their call. If a finding needs a look behind drywall, the seller has to agree, which is one reason access and the seller's role come up in our guide on whether the seller should be present at the home inspection.
InterNACHI calls an inspection "not technically exhaustive." The Texas standard does not require thermal imaging, moisture meters, environmental testing equipment, sewer cameras or drones, and InterNACHI does not require walking on the roof. Many inspectors carry some of these tools anyway, so ask what yours uses. Prices for the common add-ons are in average home inspection cost.
ASHI's standard excludes "common elements and common areas in multiunit housing, such as condominium properties and cooperative housing." The Texas standard lets an inspector skip a common element that is not in physical contact with the unit, such as the foundation under another building. What belongs to you and what belongs to the association is set by the declaration, as explained in what a condo is. The building is judged through documents, starting with the reserve study for the condo association. Owners preparing a unit for sale meet the same limit from the other side, covered in how to sell a condo.
Most inspectors ask you to sign a pre-inspection agreement before they start. It describes the standard they follow and, often, how much they will owe you if they miss something. Common clauses cap liability at the inspection fee, require arbitration, or shorten the time you have to bring a claim. Whether a court enforces those terms depends on your state.
So the same sentence can be void in one state and binding in the next. Ask for the agreement when you book, not on the porch, and read the cap, the arbitration clause and the claim deadline. If the terms matter to you, ask whether the inspector will change them, and confirm what insurance stands behind the work.
A good report does not stay silent at its edges. It names the limit and the next professional, and your contingency clock decides how fast you call them:
A lender's decision to skip its own appraisal does not change any of this; our guide to the property inspection waiver explains why. This article explains general rules, not legal advice for your file. Your inspector, a licensed specialist or an attorney in your state is the right next call. Neighbors who bought on the same street often know which specialist found what; ask them on Ask a Resident, and compare homes on Leevli's listings.
Residents know which problems in their building or street fell outside a standard inspection, because they found them afterward.
Listings show the property, but they rarely explain the lived reality around it. On Leevli, a mover can explore the city, review neighborhood and building information, and ask a verified resident the specific questions that remain unanswered. That human layer helps readers know what to investigate before signing a lease, making an offer, or choosing between two addresses.
It depends on the state and the inspector's standard. Florida and Texas prohibit repairing what the inspector reported on, paying agents for referrals (Texas also bars accepting referral fees), and inspecting when pay depends on the findings or the closing. Texas also bars sharing your results without your approval. Separately, inspectors cannot offer engineering, surveying or legal opinions unless they hold those licenses.
Not in some states. Florida's statute bars an inspector or the inspector's company from performing or offering repairs on any home they reported on, with no time limit. Texas bars repair, replacement, maintenance or upgrade work on covered systems for 12 months after an inspection under a real estate contract. Elsewhere, check your state licensing board and the inspector's association code.
A visual examination of the readily accessible, installed systems of the house: structure, roof, exterior, plumbing, electrical, heating and cooling, interior, insulation and ventilation. The pre-inspection agreement names the standard that defines it, usually ASHI, InterNACHI or a state standard such as Texas's. Anything the standard excludes is outside the scope unless you buy it as an add-on.
Under the national standards, radon, mold, termites and other pests, sewer lines, wells and septic systems are generally outside the standard scope. Texas does not require sewer cameras, moisture meters or thermal imaging. Many inspectors offer some of these for an added fee; otherwise book a radon tester, a pest inspector or a plumber with a sewer camera inside your contingency period.
It varies by state. California's Business and Professions Code 7198 voids clauses that limit liability to the cost of the report. A New Jersey appellate court in 2004 refused to enforce a cap that worked out to $192.50 on a $385 inspection. An Illinois appellate court in 2010 upheld a cap at the inspection fee. Read the agreement before inspection day.
No. ASHI, InterNACHI and the Texas standard all say the inspector is not required to determine code compliance, and none of them covers permit history. Ask the seller for permits and final sign-offs, check the local building department's records, and ask a real estate attorney what your contract lets you do if an addition or conversion was never permitted.
The standards do not require it. InterNACHI excludes repair cost estimates, ASHI excludes the costs of corrections, and the Texas standard says inspectors are not required to provide repair cost estimates. Some inspectors share a rough range anyway. For negotiating with the seller, get written quotes from licensed contractors, because a contractor's number is what the other side will take seriously.
Not without your permission in Texas, where the TREC rule bars disclosing inspection results or client information without the client's prior approval, except warnings about an immediate safety hazard. Other states and association codes have similar confidentiality rules. You decide who gets the report, so send it to your agent and attorney yourself once you have read it.
Only as long as your contract's inspection contingency or option period allows, which is a negotiated number of days that varies by contract and state form. Engineers and sewer scope crews can take several days to schedule, so book them the day the report arrives. Once the deadline passes, you usually lose the right to cancel on inspection grounds.
Reading "not inspected" or "outside scope" as "no problem found." A blocked attic, an untested system or an item the standard excludes is a gap, not a pass. Buyers also assume a condo inspection covered the roof and shared plumbing, or that the inspector checked permits. Each gap needs its own specialist before the contingency deadline.
This article is informational and does not constitute legal, financial, tax or insurance advice.
