Bill Seeks To Separate Agents from Inspectors

[hausdok]

In a follow-up to another article about proposed H.I. legislation looming on the horizon in Michigan, the President of the Michigan Association of Home Inspectors is supporting the bill because it seeks to somewhat emulate the Massachusetts home inspection law by preventing real estate agents from recommending home inspectors to their clients.

To read more click here.

[RAB]

A little caution is needed in reading news articles. The president of MichAHI is not supporting any bill at this time. There is no bill at this point. There is no attempt to emulate any legislation from any other state.

The Michigan Association of Home Inspectors does not, nor have they ever, supported any legislation to license home inspectors in Michigan. What we have done is worked to educate and inform legislators that have a desire to license home inspectors in our state.

MichAHI will continue to work with the Michigan legislature, doing what we can to prevent the introduction of bad legislation. We have gone on record opposing any legislation that would license home inspectors without creating meaningful consumer protection.

There is a fine line between working with the legislature to educate and inform, and supporting legislation. But there is an important distinction. And this is one line MichAHI has not crossed.

[hausdok]

Hi Randy,

Sorry if I got it wrong. Guess I should have used the word "Proposed" there. However, I'd inferred from the articles that are linked that 1) Accavitti is currently in the process of having legislation written that he intends to introduce as a bill to license inspectors, that 2) your association hopes that "legislation sponsored by State Rep. Frank Accavitti Jr. of Macomb County and now being drafted will prevent real-estate agents, sellers, mortgage lenders, mortgage brokers and others from attempting to influence an inspector."

When that immediately follows a statement that quotes you - "Massachusetts has one of the best laws," he said, "because it prohibits a seller’s real-estate agent from recommending a specific home inspector" - combined with, "Aldering and other independent inspectors believe that independence is critical for any Michigan law regulating home inspectors, " one is lead to believe by the reporter that Accavitti's draft bill somehow will emulate the Massachusetts model and that you guys are in favor of it. That just goes to show that a reporter can make an article lean just about any way that he/she wants. Doesn't it?

Then there was this two days ago that, though unattributed, also leads the reader to infer that's what's going on.

FWIW, I agree with your position. We have a coalition out here in Washington State that's made up of independents and folks from ASHI, NAHI, NACHI, AII, AHIA, WSPCA and WHIA that is taking a similar position. We don't necessarily want licensing, but if it's going to come, the group favors essentially all of the same points that, according to these articles, your group does.

Unfortunately, what our group or you group suggests to the pols isn't necessarily what the pols will actually try to do, is it? In our case, the pols sponsoring legislation strung the group along, leading them to believe that they were actually listening, and then at the 11th hour they introduced something substantially different than what the group thought they would introduce, stating that all "stakeholders" had been consulted, leading everyone at the senate hearing to believe that the coalition, among others, endorsed that version. Then, when the group spoke up in opposition to it as written, the same legislators turned around when it moved to the house and told the house committee chair that the coalition "doesn't know what they want," which was an outright lie.

It got punted to a sunrise review and a decision to bring it up for a vote is due in December. Sure hope he's listening to your group's point of view and isn't playing you.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[RAB]

Hi Mike,

Yes, it is amazing how news reporters can run things together. There is hope that Representative Accavitti is indeed listening to us, but there have been no guarantees that his bill will do what we need it to do in order to actually be worth passing. We could easily be played. Then again, one can't really predict what will happen. The reality is that most people, including legislators, do not really understand what a real home inspection is. And therein lies one of our profession's greatest hurdles to overcome.