As a follow up to the article yesterday on the legal liability of Real Estate agents (which you can read here: https://www.flodenward.com/post/legal-duties-of-real-estate-agents-in-alberta), today's article is about the legal liability of a related professional, home inspectors. Home inspectors owe both a contractual duty of care (and their contracts often have waivers which is a whole other issue- you can read our article about waivers here: https://www.flodenward.com/post/alberta-law-waivers .
The case of Lewis v. Plourde, 2017ABQB235 involved claims against, among other parties a home inspector. Madam Justice G.A. Campbell's analysis at 247 is a good statement of what needs to be proved in these lawsuits (we've edited it to take out specific names so it is a more general statement of law):
[247]The onus of proof is on [the plaintiff] to prove on a balance of probabilities that [the inspection company] and its employee [...] acted negligently and failed to meet the standard of care expected of a reasonably prudent home inspector under similar circumstances or breached their contractual obligations under the Home Inspection Agreement and Report in carrying out the home inspection.
Liability of home inspectors is going to be very fact specific. If you believe you have a claim against a home inspector, please feel free to contact us.
The information contained in this article is not legal advice. No solicitor client relationship is formed through this article. The reader is encouraged to retain counsel for advice in these matters.
