FAQ Does a licensed plumber need to make the home repairs?
In Arizona it's standard of care practice to request licensed contractor(s) to perform any repairs requested by a home buyer during the home inspection period (normally 10 days) on any items such as plumbing, electrical, roofing, HVAC and such. A client of ours made the requests in a timely manner and there wasn't that much on the list other than a few plumbing items. The seller has 5 days after receipt of the repair requests to either agree to the repair requests, counter the repair requests or refuse to make the repairs entirely. The home buyer then has 5 days after receipt of the sellers response to make up their mind whether they want to 1) accept the seller's response to their repair requests and move towards closing or 2) cancel the contract. It's really pretty simple.
Why would the buyer want to be sure a licensed contractor to make the necessary repairs? That is a simple answer as well, to ensure that the repairs are made to a current standard of care and to receive a receipt from the licensed contractor for the repairs. Basically it's called 'Peace of Mind'. And that just makes sense if we're dealing with electrical issues, plumbing issues etc. Ask any home inspector and they'll tell you about the 'nightmare' situations they find almost every day. You'll hear an inspector say say, OMG these folks are lucky the house hasn't burned down or some other serious issue hasn't arisen and it's only a matter of time before it does.
Today the assistant of the listing agent inquired as to whether or not the buyer would be fine with the seller's brother doing the repairs as he used to be a licensed plumber. What do you suppose myself as a broker would say to that? No it's not ok, the repairs must be done by a licensed contractor due to liability issues. Now sure, maybe the brother was a fine plumber in his day or maybe things have changed since he's been in business too. Either way the buyer wants to be assured that any repairs being done are by a licensed plumber, period. And let's project ahead and imagine the repairs were done by the unlicensed plumber and there were major (or minor) issue(s) after the closing. Then what? Well there is nobody to go back on as there is no license and no agency or rules of conduct for the unlicensed repair person. That is not a position we want any of our home buyers (or home sellers as listing agents) to be - ever.
It's always best to follow the standard of care and hire Licensed
Contractors to make home inspection repair requests
FAQ Does a licensed plumber need to make the home repairs?
Orginally posted on Phoenix Property Shoppe
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