When home inspectos say oops

In most cases I would say NOT the home inspector. However, all standards of home inspection and common sense say that home inspectors DO NOT operate anything other than the normal, consumer friendly, controls. Had I been doing your inspection, I would have excluded that device. Or someone else could have lit the pilot light. It would not have been me. Why? For exactly that reason you describe. The appliance was off, it did not work, now you are wondering if the inspector shoudl pay for it.

A home inspector has enough liability to begin with, without turning on main water valves and main breakers. And I consider that less awkward than lighting a pilot light. So, in this case, since the inspector did something that is not part of his job, maybe he should be responsible. He may have had permission to do it, but you will note that he is, despite that, still in the equation as maybe having done something wrong. Hence, the problem with what he did.

The sellers.  It is their home and they are responsible for their home.  Yes, it could have been out of alignment from last season.  In this market, they should be happy they have a buyer!  Don't you agree? 

Thanks for the blog!

Ann Sabbagh

Vice-President

www.annsabbagh.com

"When you choose me as your mortgage consultant, you also choose a financial planner who cares about YOUR financial stength"

Got to agree with Steve on this one----the inspector should not be lighting pilot lights. (Today----anything with a standing pilot is likely to be past its expected life anyway:)

Interesting topic - I would say the sellers would bear responsibility.  It is their home, they agreed to allowing the pilot to be lit and there is no way to tell if the inspector is the one who misaligned the pilot.

I would vote for the sellers.  The pilot was not lit and they can not honestly say they inspector did anything wrong. Hopefully the sale will be completed and they can just considerit as a cost of sale.

The sellers did give permission for the pilot to be lit.

The home inspector should not be lighting pilot lights.  However, the seller did allow it.  That is a hard call.

I don't about this, I'm so accustom to ligthing pilot lights on Furnaces, hot waters, fire places, gas ranges, and whatever else had pilots light. That is never a dilemma on my inspections. It's like Steven said as long it is operated in a  normal, consumer friendly way. When lighting furnace's or hot water heaters I have come across broken or frozen knobs and also on hot water temperature controls.

But each one has their own style of inspecting gas appliances, I guess.

There is one thing I'm very particular in my inspections, I leave everything exactly as I find it.

                            ~Newbie