2023-07-22 05:15:12
The government of François Legault published this week a draft regulation concerning the framework of the role of the building inspector. However, Quebec is slow to make a pre-purchase home inspection mandatory.
Posted 1:15 a.m. Updated 6:00 a.m.
According to our information, the government is continuing its reflection on the subject. It weighs the pros and cons between intervention by regulation or by tabling a bill.
On the eve of the construction holidays, no one at the Régie du bâtiment du Québec (RBQ) has answered our questions since Wednesday, even if the organization published a press release on the subject on Thursday.
The purpose of the regulation proposed this week is to require building inspectors to hold a certificate issued by the Régie du bâtiment.
This draft regulation is the culmination of a process that began with the adoption of Bill 16 by Minister Andrée Laforest in 2019.
From now on, the inspector will have to carry out his inspection by following the standard developed by the Bureau de normalization du Québec, which defines good practices in this area.
Before Bill 16, there was no legal or regulatory framework for pre-purchase inspection.
Buyers may have paid the price.
During the period of real estate bidding that characterized the COVID-19 pandemic, many home sales were concluded without the buyer being able to make an inspection following the acceptance of the offer to purchase. A situation that had been publicly criticized.
Three-year transition period
The draft regulation provides for mandatory college-level training to obtain the building inspector’s certificate. The inspector must also carry liability insurance, produce an inspection report and comply with continuing education requirements. There is also a question of ethical rules and the handling of complaints.
The regulation is to come into effect on October 1, 2024. A transitional period of three years is provided for current inspectors who will be able to continue to practice without a licence. They will have to qualify to obtain a certificate by successfully completing the upgrade training, specifies the RBQ in its press release.
“Currently, in Quebec, the function of building inspector is not regulated. We want the building inspectors targeted by the regulation to henceforth be required to hold a certificate issued by the RBQ, which represents better monitoring of the quality of the inspection and qualification for the new buyer who uses their services,” said the Minister of Labor, Jean Boulet, in the same press release.
Second try
This is the second publication of a draft regulation on the supervision of building inspectors. The RBQ had published a first version of it on February 24, 2022. At the time, the Régie had in fact published two regulations: a first on the framework and a second on the obligation for any person to have the building 25 years old and over inspected prior to its purchase.
While everyone can understand the usefulness of a pre-purchase inspection, making the process mandatory may not please some since the government finds itself intervening in a private transaction by adding costs to the already expensive purchase of a property.
These two draft regulations of February 2022 were not followed up. In July of the same year, the Bureau de normalization du Québec published its 3009-500 standard aimed at defining inspection practices for residential buildings.
This is the result of a consensus reached by a standardization committee that held 22 meetings in 25 months and brought together 18 people from building inspector associations, professional orders, insurers and others.
The Corporation of Property Quality Verification Inspectors (CIVQP) has publicly declared its dissidence. She criticized the standard for being limited to a visual inspection of the building. It was impossible to reach its founder Mario Roy.
However, other associations have supported the standard, such as the Association of Building Inspectors of Quebec (AIBQ).
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