Capital City Inspection's Blog

Here are my notes from the Feb 22nd TREC Inspector Advisory Committee meeting:

http://www.divshare.com/download/10576609-bd6

Here's an inspection find for the books courtesy of Josh Frederick in Ohio.

Attached are my personal notes from today’s, 2/9/10, TREC IAC SOP/Commentary subcommittee teleconference. Bottom line, the Commentary moves forward with a high likelihood of being incorporated in one manner or the other into the SOP and will become an ‘enforceable document’.

My Notes here

Well, the TREC IAC Subcommittee that is working on the proposed Commentary is planning a teleconference next Tuesday, 2/9. The meeting will be primarily to discuss the Commentary and how to incorporate it into the TREC Rules thereby becoming an 'enforceable' document. The effective result is that the Texas SOP will grow from a huge document to a massive monstrosity.

Agenda Item 4. Discussion and possible action to recommend to the Texas Real Estate Inspector Committee posting of sections of the commentary for public comment with the intent to include the commentary sections in the rules of the Texas Real Estate Commission.

This SOP Commentary Position Statement was mailed today to all 9 TREC Commissioners, several TREC staff members, the Inspectors Advisory Committee and leaders of the other trade associations active in Texas.

The TREC Inspector's Advisory Committee SOP Subcommittee meeting scheduled for this morning at 11:00 am was canceled due to lack of a quorum of the subcommittee members. Members of the full IAC met privately with TREC staff to discuss the logistics of the proposed Commentary and how it might be implemented. The decision has not been reached (at least publicly) as to whether the Commentary will be enforceable or not nor whether it will become part of the existing SOP or if it will be a new Rule or if it will be a stand-alone, non-enforceable, non-rule document for clarification purposes only. The IAC chairman said no decision has been reached on that as yet but work will continue on the proposed Commentary in the meantime. Separately, I discussed this with a TAREI representative and we agreed that all of the trade associations should develop a position statement regarding the Commentary and present that to the IAC as soon as possible. I will draft one for NACHI and post it here for comment in a few days.

Due to several reasons there are now 44% fewer active inspectors in Texas than there were just 18 months ago. That's based on TREC published data.

Here are my notes from this morning's IAC SOP Sub-committee teleconference on the proposed Commentary. As usual, my comments are in bold, blue, italic font.

Download the pdf notes here.

Commentaries on the Standards of Practice, drafted by the Standards of Practice Subcommittee of the Texas Real Estate Inspector Committee, have been posted on the TREC website. There is an email link for you to send them comments, observations or just share your thoughts about these commentaries.

Input from everyone - Texas inspectors, brokers & agents, lenders, the public - is earnestly sought and welcome. Please distribute this message as widely as possible. Proposed commentaries to other sections will be coming later.

The link is: http://www.trec.state.tx.us/inspector/SpecialTopics/SoP_Commentary_2009.asp 

In June, TREC requested an opinion from the state Attorney General as to whether TREC has jurisdiction over inspectors who perform inspections for someone other than a Buyer or Seller of real property. The AG handed down his opinion today and the simple answer is No:

S U M M A R Y

The Texas Real Estate Commission does not have authority under section 1102.401(a), Occupations Code, to take disciplinary action against a person licensed under chapter 1102 if the person has not accepted employment to perform a real estate inspection for a buyer or seller of real property.

It is necessary to define the terms "buyer" and "seller" in the context of chapter 1102 in order to determine whether a person, in a particular factual context, constitutes a buyer or seller of real property for which a real estate inspector has accepted employment. As the agency charged with administering chapter 1102 and authorized to establish the standards of conduct and ethics for persons licensed under chapter 1102, the Commission must determine, in the first instance, the meaning of these terms.

Very truly yours,

GREG ABBOTT

Attorney General of Texas

The original request for opinion can be seen here: http://www.oag.state.tx.us/opinions/opinions/50abbott/rq/2009/pdf/RQ0804GA.pdf 

And the AG’s complete response can be seen here: http://www.oag.state.tx.us/opinions/opinions/50abbott/op/2009/pdf/ga0748.pdf