Home inspectors.

Existing law provides that it is the duty of a home inspector, as defined, who is not licensed as a general contractor, structural pest control operator, or architect, or registered as a professional engineer, to conduct a home inspection with the degree of care that a reasonably prudent home inspector would exercise. Existing law provides that certain actions by a home inspector, a company that employs the inspector, or a company that is controlled by a company that also has a financial interest in a company employing a home inspector, constitute an unfair business practice. This bill would require any person who makes a home inspection on or after January 1, 2012, to be certified by a home inspection association, as defined, and to meet specified minimum experiential, training, examination, and continuing education requirements, with a specified exception. The bill would require the Office of Professional Examination Services of the Department of Consumer Affairs to approve by July 1, 2011, the examination that a home inspector association is required to accept for certification of a home inspector. The bill would also, on and after January 1, 2012, require a home inspector to make specified written disclosures to a client about his or her certification, experience, education, and insurance coverage and require a home inspection association to publish and maintain active rosters of all of the home inspectors certified by the association. The bill would provide that, on and after January 1, 2012, it is an unfair business practice to hold oneself out as being a home inspector or to issue a home inspection report, unless one is certified.