FYI - in Texas, we have a 10-day option period with an unrestricted right to terminate, so the buyer can walk for any reason whatsoever.

The inspector finds an obvious, visual, big-ticket issue, X three. In this instance, the inspector was well within their guidelines set forth in their standards of practice. Under TREC's guidelines, he has to report this.

The seller finds out that the buyer is backing out because of this issue, is upset and is threatening the inspector. You hear of buyers sueing inspectors, but sellers sueing the person that was hired to look out for the best interest of the buyer?

Is there a precendent for this that anyone can point me to?

Those types of threats come up every so often, but once the seller consults with his attorney, the seller finds that he doesn't have a case. The seller had no contract——verbal, written, or implied——with the home inspector, so there is no basis to sue.

However, remember that anyone can sue anyone else for any reason at any time. So I suppose that if someone just had some leftover money, they could sue. However, usually the people threatening to sue are doing it because they don't have money, so it's a lot of bravado with nothing to back it up.

I get a couple of threats each year, and I simply inform them that if they want to sue me, please feel free to do so and I'll respond as necessary. It never comes to pass.

And you're lucky in Texas because things are so explicit. They are not so explicit here in litigious California.

Thanks Russel. I appreciate the reply.

We've actually received a threatening email from this person, attempting to blackmail my husband with the threat of a lawsuit if he reports his findings.

Needless to say, I've kept the email.

Since this happened, my husband has contacted a few inspector friends and they've all said the same thing as you. It's more like, "Welcome to the wonderful world of inspecting!".

It's really pathetic.

Well, after reading about all the fights, tramplings, and foul language amongst all the shoppers (I never shop on Black Friday), yes, keep the email. You never know when some yo-yo is going to come from his attorney and go straight to your house to do whatever. One hopes it never gets to that, but. . . .

I was a Realtor in Houston from 1977-1983. I lived over at Gessner and Westheimer. When the oil boom went bust, I went into property flipping over near UH, TSU, Rice, and St. Mary's.

I've been gone from Texas since 1993; does the state still allow one to drive with alcohol and loaded guns in the car? Any zoning laws yet in the City there?

But, anyway, yes, welcome to the world of home inspections. It's a doozy.

Yes, we can carry a handgun, if we also carry a license. A law was passed not too long ago, that said we could carry in the car regardless, but then I heard that law enforcement would still arrest you. Only in Texas.

We are no longer allowed to drive with anyone who is has an open container. I think that was passed about three years ago.

And no, still no zoning, but we still have some very powerful homeowner's associations!

Hi Houston agent,
Speaking from my experiences only up here in central Ohio this is pretty common. I do believe though that buyers here have to have a significant reason to back out based on the home inspection. Nevertheless the situation does arise where inspectors are blamed by the sellers when buyers walk away and threaten to sue for their loss. What happens more often than not it is not the seller who complains or issues the threats it's the sellers agent. Again I am only speaking for my area and my experiences but inspections of ALL kinds are exclusively agent controlled. What I mean by controlled is that inspectors are chosen by the agent, the inspections are ordered by the agent, and all documents are delivered directly to the agent. It is very rare that we ever see our "actual client" face-to-face. So when there is a problem or the agent notices a potential red flag in the report the phone rings. Sometimes the report can be adequately clarified and the agent then feels he/she can let the buyer see it and other times it gets pretty ugly. Because inspection referrals are so dependent on who the agent "likes" the threats are free flowing and unfortunately very effective ammunition against an inspector. I think that anyone who reads my posts will soon understand that I am very much against agents who prefer to direct business to one inspector.

Anyway, back to your concerns...yes, anyone can bring suit but as the other poster said whether it goes anywhere that's a whole other ball game. What you may want to do is search the internet for case law...actual lawsuits. There is not much out there and you will have better luck searching the appealed decisions. If I remember any of those links I will let you know. I wouldn't worry though. If most of the inspectors business referrals come from the actual client and not their agent the inspector won't have to worry about being the topic of the next realtor get together. That's where the real damage occurs.