The full Inspector Committee met on Monday, July 17. On the agenda was a discussion of the pros and cons of continuing to exempt certain education providers from TREC licensure requirements (22 TAC 353.71 and 22 TAC 535.218). While these rules exempted federal, state or local government and nationally recognized code organizations from provider licensure requirements, education courses offered by these entities still had to meet TREC requirements for CE credit.   Determining whether the courses offered by exempt providers meet TREC requirements for CE credit takes considerable staff time, and often those courses did not meet the TREC requirements.  Additionally, inspectors utilized the exempt provider rule only 19 times over the last 3 years. Due to these factors, the Committee recommended that the Commission repeal the rules related to exempt inspector CE providers. The Commission agreed and proposed their repeal at the August Commission meeting. 

The Committee also discussed issues regarding the statutorily required liability insurance. It has come to the attention of the Committee that certain language may be included in some of the insurance policies utilized by inspectors that raises questions about whether those policies are in complete compliance with the statute. The Committee recommended amendments to the Commission that it believes will provide clarity to both insurers and inspectors regarding what is required to be in full compliance with the statute. 

The Committee also discussed concerns regarding sharing information gathered during an inspection of a property on social media, and whether an inspector should be required to follow certain guidelines related to posting information related to a specific inspection. The Committee has asked staff provide additional information on that subject at the next committee meeting.

Finally, the Committee laid to rest concerns about the supervision of apprentice inspectors, determining that the statute authorizes both professional and real estate inspectors to provide direct supervision of apprentice inspectors.

The next Committee meeting is Monday, October 9 at 10am and the SOP Committee will meet prior to that meeting at 9am. Both meetings are at the TREC offices in Austin. Please check the TREC website for the agenda. As always, your continued involvement and support are welcomed and encouraged. Please attend if you can.

I want to express my support for all home inspectors affected by Hurricane Harvey. This has been a devastating blow to many men and women whose livelihood depends on the real estate market, both as inspectors, realtors, appraisers, and their families. I realize many inspectors in the Houston, Rockport, and coastal areas have lost so much.  Please let me know how I can help, or if there is anything TREC or the real estate community can do to help. You can email me personally at dianna@dshomeinspection.com.