REGINA -- A Regina home inspector is calling for regulation within the industry from the provincial government.
Sheldon Eipert has been a home inspector in Regina for two a half years. One reason he ventured into the industry was because of his background in construction.
It was when Eipert bought his own home, and discovered a multitude of issues missed by his home inspector, that he decided to break into the business.
"Our dishwasher was stated to be working 100 per cent and when we moved in it wasn’t installed properly,” Eipert said. “The waste and supply lines were not hooked up."
Eipert said it’s frustrating to know that some people in Saskatchewan aren't getting quality home inspections, and would like to see the industry regulated by the government.
"I think the ones that shouldn’t be working will be against it, is what I'll say about that” Eipert said. “I feel the ones that are properly educated at this point, I feel that the province will do the right thing and put that in place and then we'll go from there. I feel that it will definitely change the industry for the better and it will also change the industry for people that are buying homes.”
Home inspections are not regulated by the Government of Saskatchewan even though some lenders require a home inspection to be completed before they will finance the purchase. Home inspections are regulated in British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario.
"It’s has to do with marketplace behavior or harm to the consumer,” Eric Greene with the Financial and Consumer Affairs Authority of Saskatchewan. “If the consumer is ultimately being harmed by the in action or misaction, then we'd want to look at that.”
The Financial and Consumer Affairs Authority of Saskatchewan said it has not received many complaints about low quality home inspections in the province.
“We haven’t received a lot of complaints and we believe that the industry is serving the Saskatchewan marketplace adequately,” Greene said. “…most of the home inspections, especially those who belong to a home inspection association, will follow guidelines and standards set by what’s known as the Canadian Standards Association’s home inspection guidelines.”
Greene said if someone does have a negative experience with a home inspector to file a complaint to the authority.
Abhishek and Sheaffee Gupta experienced a low quality home inspection after they put in an offer on a house. The couple wanted a home inspection conducted before conditions could be lifted and said they weren’t impressed with the inspector they hired.
Abhishek said he noticed things the inspector missed, like no cover plates on electrical outlets.
"I asked that guy, ‘what about cover plates?’ He replied to me, ‘I'm not doing inspections per code book.’ I said, ‘I’m an electrical engineer, I know, without a code book you cannot install anything and cannot get approval from SaskPower," Abhishek said.
