A Property Disclosure Statement Copy For A Property Inspector: Necessary Or Not!

A buyer is spending a large amount of money on the property hence you can expect them to be smart enough to study the property comprehensively before investing. 

Buyers are guided about the property during the walkthrough process, but there is much to reveal about the property that is not visible to untrained eyes. On the other hand, a seller is responsible for providing the potential buyer with a disclosure statement explaining the property's general conditions. 

A buyer can also conduct a snagging home inspection to understand the property better and save themselves from investing in a lemon house. 

Let's understand more about disclosure statements.

Are you curious about understanding the role of property disclosure statements?

• A property disclosure statement is a document that highlights the issues or defects, past problems, and old repairs in the property by the seller. This document is a vital legal statement and must be provided to buyers to be evenhanded and upfront with their property issues. The Property Disclosure Statement is attached with the purchase agreement once signed. 

Here is some impetus of the Property Disclosure Statement: 

• Informing buyers about the defects in the property they plan to purchase – invest in. 
• It is vital to safeguard the seller from a potential future lawsuit.
• Allows the buyer to file a lawsuit for the critical issues not disclosed in the Property Disclosure Statement. 

Why does a property inspector have property disclosure statements?
To recap: a property disclosure is a statement the property seller provides to the buyer after the buyer has made an offer to purchase. This disclosure statement is filled by the property owner, which mentions the state of the property and the requirements. This document is responsible for informing the buyer about the potential issues in the property, along with the history of other repairs done. 

The further step the buyer must not miss is hiring a qualified property inspector to verify the issues mentioned in the disclosure agreement and highlight the ones not mentioned in the statement. 

Most buyers think of waiving off the professional property inspections when the seller provides the disclosure agreement, so why must you carry out a home inspection even after having the disclosure statement in hand? 

• The seller is responsible for mentioning the issues they are aware of, as there are times when the seller might not be aware of some potential issues in the property that a home inspection will help you spot. 
• Some states are caveat emptor or “buyer beware” states – that means the seller is not responsible for full disclosure of the issues in the property.
• Even if no issues are found during a home inspection, at least you can confirm the existing issues mentioned in the statement. Most importantly, a buyer can be confident in his investment. 

How to Make a Property Disclosure - 

Every state has its own terms and conditions regarding property disclosure statements. Most of the forms will provide you with a checklist to tick along with some extra room to add some more details about the property issues. This statement will be submitted to the buyer once they have accepted the offer. However, the buyer can break the deal if they cannot adjust to the seller disclosure statement without losing any of the deposit amounts. 

Depending on how brief you want your forms to be, there are main areas and details that need to be supplied. The important you cannot skip in a Property Disclosure Agreement is added below: 

•  Sellers Full Name 
• The address of the property has been sold 
• Property details like year of construction 
• How long have you owned the property 

It will be beneficial if you submit a copy of the disclosure statement to the certified property inspector, who can use it as a guide during the inspection. For example, if a water pipeline issue is mentioned in the statement, the inspector will remove extra time to check the issues thoroughly.

An up-to-scratch inspection can only occur when all the parties work together – the seller, the buyer, and the snagging inspector. Hence, giving the property inspector one copy of the disclosure statement will help them make the most of the inspection for you. 

We at GTA Inspectors have years of experience building trust between buyers and sellers with our unmatched inspection services and information blogs.

Stay stunned with us to know more about the property inspection.

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