I will never walk on a tile roof. There is just to much labiality. You can cause a thousand dollars worth of damage very easily.  I will inspect the roof from my ladder and use binoculars, but I will never walk on it.

Shawn Martin

Martin Home Inspection Services

http://www.martininspect.com/

I have on occasion run into the same problem. Once I called a roofer who not only inspected but certified the roof for approx $100. Then the roofer was on the line for the condition of the roof. And I've called a friend who sells roofing to roofers. She gets on roofs all of the time, requested by the homeowner. She'll do that for approx $75. Both are covered by their own insurance.

Dave.... I only do mortgages... but I did run into an issue and we needed a roof inspection on an FHA property. Everything was done last minute.... and I needed to get the loan closer. They had the roof replaced last minute. Finding inspectors in this area is extremely tough. I asked my underwriter and closer if they would close the deal for me, knowing that I had an inspector that would go out there 3 days after settlement. I figured there would be no problems because it was a brand new roof.

Well... I get a call telling me that it did meet normal standards.... out. I can't go back to the seller and or the buyer. I asked him how much. he said....since he did the inspection, he would charge me a low fee, after knowing that I would be paying for this. It cost me $550 dollars....  that was a lesson learned. Next time, no mister nice guy. We wait...

But sorry...no other experiences in regards to walking on the roofs. All of my appraisers won't walk up there either, just as mentioned, because of the liability.

Not too many tile roofs here in New York. It's the purchasers choice for inspectors and roofers and also their expense if they want to have it done. There shouldn't be a problem with you and your seller. The buyers agent is supposed to take care of HIS client and handle all the problems.

Dave,

I have never ran in a scenario like yours, very difficult, but I would do the same with the inspector, the same thing that it happened to you, using the ladder and maybe bincoulars if that is the case,   all my life I lived on roofs like those and I remember when I was a boy, I used to climb on roofs and be on roofs all the time and I broke some on my house, it never happened anything with leaks or something, I do not know if the contruction in USA it is the same as Mexico but I believe that is similar, so houses where I lived my dad build them, he is a civil engineer and he knew very well his job how to tell people how to do it on details, hm....   I really do not know, but we never had leak, maybe my house was very insulated.

Ray Saenz

We don't have that kind of roof up here, but I can certainly understand an inspector not wanting to walk on those tiles.  Roofers here generally will get up on the roof to inspect it, and they'll use binoculars, etc. if the slant of the roof is such that it's too dangerous to climb up there.

Ann Cummings