Article2025 | 05 | 28

Spring Ahead to Buy a Home – is a home inspection for you?

Well, the spring time change usually awakens people to start looking for a home or a new home to be purchased over the summer when their school age children are either out of school (which also leads to a timely transition if a change of school is needed) or when it is warm (let’s face it, winter isn’t exactly the nicest time of the year in Winnipeg to be hauling furniture) and there is usually vacation time as a factor as well.

As lawyers we don’t receive offers to purchase until all conditions are removed and therefore our input on a transaction until it is binding is usually nil but on the odd occasion we are asked to draft an offer to purchase (an “Offer”) for our client purchasers. In those instances, a common question that we are asked is “do I need a home inspection?”. The diligent answer to that question is “yes” but the reality of whether or not there is a condition inserted for that in the Offer depends on how hot the market is at that time and how bad a purchaser really wants to buy the home without scaring off a vendor with a condition (in a perfectly balanced market, a home inspection requirement would be par for the course but that never happens). On the other hand, if it is a sellers’ market, it is a time for them to sell a house if there are issues. With that being said, it is my practice to advise my client the benefits of a home inspection and what the perils might be if they don’t. Then that decision is then left for them to make.

A home inspection is an unbiased 3rd party inspection of a home by a licensed professional that is not affiliated by realtors or an owner to identify major and minor issues of a home for a potential purchaser. This allows the purchaser to make an informed decision of their potential purchase. It is essentially paying to kick the tires so you know what you are getting (or what hidden skeletons in the closet might be out there that could be problematic but are unknown at this point; for example, what might be behind a wall but can’t be known unless a hole is made in the wall).
As everyone is cost conscious, the question commonly asked is how much does a home inspection cost? They are worried about this because the cost of a home inspection is to paid whether or not they decide to buy the home in the first place and not part of their closing costs which can be paid for at a later date.

Lawyers typically never order home inspections (our clients do) but I am told that (a) they are in the range of $500 to $1,000 and (b) they generally include a summary report with pictures either provided on paper or electronically in some fashion. It is usually at a fraction of the cost of any potential repairs. In addition, a home inspector will generally give a timeframe of when necessary repairs should be completed especially on such matters as roofs, furnaces, wiring, air conditioning and any other mechanicals of the home.
I have been told that a home inspector will on average spend 3 to 4 hours on a property and the exact amount of time taken will be weather dependent (for example, what can be seen in the winter vs. the summer). Once that is complete, I have been told that it will take between 1 to 3 days to get the report mentioned above.
Rural and cottage properties generally come with more issues for a home inspection. In addition to remoteness and access issues in order to have an inspection either completed or completed in a timely fashion there are issues that a home inspector would not have the expertise to opine upon such as matters as wood fireplaces or furnaces (but they can identify if a heating element has a WETT certification or not), and well and septic matters. If an inspector does not have a certification in those areas, specific inspectors that have those certifications may be required in addition to a home inspector.

On average it is less common for home inspections to occur on a traditional apartment style condominium as it is the condominium corporation’s responsibility to maintain those items that would be inspected and it should be disclosed as part of the reserve fund study that is required to be provided to a potential purchase during the seven day cooling-off period. More maintenance is bestowed on a property owner in a bareland condominium so it would be more pertinent to have a home inspection done in those situations.

SUMMARY

In conclusion, if a purchaser chooses to purchase a home without an inspection, they do not have a third party inspection by someone who most likely will have a knowledge base as to what to look for and what could be a red flag or a potential red flag far superior then what an average purchaser would have. This could mean nothing or it could be a very costly mistake. It is a liability that a purchaser would take on and it’s a decision that only a purchaser can make and not one that a lawyer can make for a client.

The Government of Canada’s link about home inspections is as follows:
Home Inspections

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