ATLANTA — New consumer protections could be coming for Georgia homebuyers.
A bill expected to be voted on this week under the gold dome would impact anyone buying a house, Channel 2 Consumer Investigator Justin Gray said on Channel 2 Action News at 5:00 p.m.
A home inspection is so important for potential homebuyers, to know what they are getting into and to see if the house has major problems.
Right now, there are no licensing requirements or standards for inspectors in Georgia - essentially anyone with a business license can call themself a home inspector.
This bill would change that.
“It’s been a free-for-all. Licensed home inspectors didn’t exist. We didn’t have any licensing requirements for them,” said real estate agent Maja Sly.
Senate Bill 458 would require home inspectors have a state license “establishing minimum qualifications, education, experience and unfair trade practices for home inspectors, thereby protecting consumers from unqualified or unethical practitioners.”
Sly says that would give valuable protection for homeowners.
“A home is the most expensive purchase that most are ever going to make, so just having a standard professional requirement is going to be great for both homebuyers and sellers,” she said.
It’s something many home inspectors themselves support too. Scott Johnson, of the American Society of Home Inspectors, has been doing the job for three decades.
“Every state that touches Georgia is a licensed state. And I think that us having licensure is gonna benefit the consumers, and that’s what we are, we’re consumer advocates,” Johnson said.
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