I would like to comment in favor of legislation similar to S.B. No. 627. The status quo in Virginia regarding the home inspection contingency is not acceptable. Legislative action would be very helpful. Home inspectors frequently have close relationships with sales agents and mortgage brokers. They know that if they identify a "deal breaker" defect in their report, the purchaser will likely back out, and the agent and broker will lose the value of their time invested for the sale of the property under contract. For that reason, home inspectors will downplay the significance of items requiring major repairs. In Virginia, the general rule is "buyer beware", which puts a special empasis on the home inspection process. Home inspectors routinely put language in their contracts that require arbitration of any disputes and limit any recovery to the amount paid for the home inspection service. This means that a purchaser could be saddled with a defect that requires $8000.00 in repairs and only have a remedy of $400.00.

I think that the text of the proposed S.B. 627 could be improved. The bill could be amended to clarify that the limitation of liability only applies to the actual "home inspection" activity and not for other acts or admissions for which a limitation of liability may be acceptable. It can also be clarified that it applies to the acts and ommissions. 

I suspect that it will not make sense to ban such limitations on liability without doing something to establish a professional standard for home inspectors.