By Barry Stone
Dear Barry,
Recently, I had to replace my water heater, and the plumber said the exhaust vent did not meet code. The water heater is in the basement, and the vent just went out a basement window. It cost me an extra $600 to have this corrected. When I bought the home about two years ago, my home inspector did not disclose this. If he had, I would have made the seller fix it. Do I have recourse against the home inspector for such negligence? - Gene
Dear Gene,
A flue pipe that terminates at an open window is an obvious defect, which should have been apparent to a qualified home inspector. It is an indisputable code violation and constitutes a significant safety hazard. Therefore, you may have recourse. But there are a few complications, which are likely to cloud the issue.
First, there is the matter of the $600 charge to extend the flue pipe above the roof line or to another approved location. Unless there were extraordinary circumstances that prevented a simple flue pipe installation, it is difficult to understand how this many dollars were needed to address the problem. Your home inspector may claim that you were overcharged for this work, and he might be correct in that assertion.
The second issue involves notifying your home inspector in a timely manner. Many home inspection contracts require that the inspector be contacted prior to making repairs. This enables the inspector to consider the situation and propose a solution. In some cases, alleged defects, when reinspected, turn out not to be problems at all. At other times, repairs of actual defects can be made for less money than proposed by a plumber or other contractor. Without prior notice, the inspector may be legally absolved of liability.
Regardless of these extenuating circumstances, it would seem that your inspector did overlook a significant and apparent defect. All you can do at this point is to contact the inspector, arrange to meet at your home, and try to negotiate a reasonable settlement.
. Questions of a Do It Yourself nature should be submitted our "