Home inspection question-Alabama

[Statecoachingblows**]

Do I have any recourse if the home inspection company missed mold, AC leak causing mildew mold in that AC closet. They came back out and saw what they missed now we can't get any response. Been several days left several messages etc. Not sure what to do or what we can do but it's really frustrating and pissing me off.

[SapperDawg]

Feel your pain, and have very little respect for the home inspection industry. This is why I did my home inspection myself. Alabama is a "buyer beware" state, and home inspectors only do visual inspections. I became a licensed home inspector for $50 and about two hours of internet testing just to satisfy that clause in my purchase contract, as being a professional engineer was apparently not enough. Here is a great article on the law and interpretations in AL:

https://www.law.ua.edu/pubs/lrarticles/Volume%2059/Issue%201/Marsh.pdf

Some questions and a few comments for you:

1. Is your purchase final?

2. The seller has a duty to disclose to you known defects....so is this something they could have reasonably known?

3. Check your contract on the purchase, you may have a 30 day window to back out or renegotiate repairs pending the inspection results.

If your guy is licensed by the State, then you can report him to the licensing board. Especially if the defect is obvious, was readily accessible, and would have reasonably been noticed in a visual inspection.

Check your contract with the inspector, my guess is there is a nice clause that limits liabiliy and includes a mediation/arbitration option prior to court. That being said, you may have a long row to hoe for any damage claim through the court system.

[Statecoachingblows**]

I appreciate the info.
Yea the purchase is final, we found the issues once we were in.

They should have noticed the mold in my opinion. In our viewing of the home we didn't flip out the blinds and check that thoroughly. It appears to be confined to one room (I know that's not likely) but visible areas only in that room.

I think our realtor really dropped the ball on some of the information too. This whole process has been a damn disaster to this point. Will be contacting the state licensing board for sure, the process was an expensive joke and a giant waste of time, I could have overlooked stuff for free

[Hasu Dackds]

Very doubtful. They have a lot of 'out' clauses in the report they give you. Just read over that and see what it says. I mean, you don't have a contract or anything.

I always suggest simply using a home inspector to give you a very general view of the condition of the house. It's up to you to really find all the problems.