What Buyers Need to Know About the Massachusetts Home Inspection Law

It’s been exactly six months since the new Massachusetts Home Inspection Law, which says all Massachusetts homebuyers have the right to an inspection, went into effect. Here are the basics that MA buyers need to know as well as a few thoughts on how it’s been working out so far.

What is the Massachusetts home inspection law?

Under the Affordable Homes Act, the purpose of the law is to “protect the informed decision-making of homebuyers” in Massachusetts by: 

1) preventing sellers or agents from requiring or encouraging buyers to waive their right to a home inspection as a condition for having their offer accepted, and similarly,

2) preventing sellers from accepting an offer based on a buyer waiving a home inspection. 

Both the buyer and seller need to sign a form–provided at the offer stage–saying the buyer has the right to not only get home inspection but also back out of the sale based on the results of the inspection.

This legislation was the result of years of heavy lobbying by consumer protection and housing advocates, along with the New England Chapter of the American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI). It applies to the sale of: residential buildings of 1–4 units, including single-family homes, condos within buildings of any size, and residential co-op sales. There are only limited exceptions.

Why are home inspections such an issue?

Buyers–especially first-timers and those with more limited budgets–can sometimes feel pressured to waive an inspection if they know there’s going to be a bidding war or if they’re in a seller’s market. This became an even more popular negotiating tactic at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic when inventory was particularly low nationwide. 

However, the housing market in Massachusetts, and Greater Boston in particular, has always been competitive, which can put buyers at a disadvantage. Hopefully this law will help level the playing field and give buyers a little more peace of mind knowing that they don’t need to waive an inspection in order to get the home of their dreams.

Has the Massachusetts home inspection law had any effect on the market?

It’s still too soon to say what the impact of the law will be–as far as we’ve seen, nothing has really changed. However, the market did cool for the holidays soon after it went into effect last October and is only starting to pick up again.

One thing we’ve heard, though, is that to get around the law, buyers are trying to make their offers more attractive by putting in high inspection contingencies and tight deadlines–even though the law prohibits sellers and buyers from adding any contract provision that makes the home inspection “meaningless.” So we’ll be keeping an eye on this to see if it becomes a trend and whether or not officials will catch on.

Why do I need a home inspection?

While it might be tempting to waive a home inspection, especially if your dream home is on the line, we’ve always required our buyers to get one. There are many reasons why; here are some of the most important ones:

• The condos and houses available in Greater Boston tend to be on the older side and have passed through many owners. That means they’ve had many updates and repairs made to them over the years and not all may have been done well. Also the New England weather can do a lot of damage to roofs, foundations and paint jobs over time.

• Even with new construction, inspectors will find things that could be a big problem later on like mold or a crack in the foundation.

• You can get some valuable tips on how to maintain your investment and how to prioritize any necessary repairs.

We always recommend our buyers talk to two or three home inspectors, so when the offer is accepted, they’ll have someone already lined up who can complete the inspection and provide the report as soon as possible after the offer is accepted. 

We’ll keep you posted as the market heats up this spring and let you know if we see this law benefitting buyers as intended!

If you or anyone you know is going to start their home search this spring, contact us to get started. In the meantime, learn more about home inspections!