If a previous buyer's inspection report makes the seller aware of an issue that is specifically asked about in the property disclosure statement, the seller is obligated to update the statement. Unfortunately, there are unscrupulous sellers and realtors who don't treat the issue or update the disclosure statement.

I wondered the same thing when recently I helped a guy who walked from a home over an inspection. The seller was present at the inspection, but I made sure to email him a copy so that he couldn't claim ignorance to future potential buyers. The sellers are investors selling FSBO, and we didn't get great "honest" vibes from them, so I tried to do my part to protect fellow buyers.

Be careful - some inspectors have their clients sign a confidentiality agreement prohibiting the client from sharing the report with others. Make sure you know what the contract allows.

I would advise my buyer client to never sign a confidentiality agreement in regards to THEIR report. After all, a lot of sellers request a copy during the repair negotiations.

Yes, a confidentiality agreement sounds odd, unless the inspector thinks he can get more business if it is not shared.
I've never seen one. As a seller I've never asked for one. Problem is, many things mentioned are not problems.
I only want to know what the buyer wants me to fix.

My point was really in response to "Weedy" mentioning that she had sent the report to the seller. It is just a cautionary note that one must be aware of what is in the agreement between buyer and inspector and not just assume that the buyer has the right to disclose the report to everyone. This is not meant as a criticism of Weedy. I am sure she knew what she was doing, but just general advice because these types of confidentiality agreements do exist.

When we bought our last house, the people that had a contract on it before us sold us all their reports (house inspection, septic inspection, termite inspection) for 1/2 price. The selling realtor set it up. We weren't going to get them done because we had been over the house pretty thoroughly & knew everything that we needed to know, so those reports just firmed up what we already knew. Worked out great for both parties. If the house is listed, you might have your realtor check with the seller's agent.

I purchased an antique home in New England a few years ago. There was a contingency offer on it, but I was paying cash with no contingencies, so we bumped the previous offer out of contention. We didn't request an inspection. When I went into the local insurance office to discuss insurance, they had a copy of the inspection that was done for the contingency buyers! They willing shared it with me. I thought that was an unusual situation but might be worth checking into for you.

I don't think I ever had a buyer tell me that their insurance company asked for the inspection report. Heck, I can't remember when a lender last asked for a report.

Inspections aren't mandatory, some people don't get them, there was a time when no one got them. I think they are good but overdone now with too many buyers wanting everything remedied.
I'd never give an insurance company my inspection.

Yeah it is not a good idea to give the insurance company a copy.
They told me my house was only 60amps (dont know why) and to prove that it was 100 amp i sent them the entire report by email.
I was trying to just send them the one page with the electrical summary, but the computer did not let me. So i stupidly sent the entire thing.
When they got the report they told me i had to fix certain other electrical things that were noted!!

Never give them a cop.

I would never give my inspection report to a seller or their agent unless I was using it to press them to repair an issue. Then I would only give them that section. Not all issues are required by state law to be disclosed.

I would never, ever, ever give it to an insurance agency.
And the insurance agency that shared it should not have unless they had permission from the person who paid for it.

Choosing to delete post.

This post was edited by lizzie_nh on Fri, Jan 30, 15 at 11:54

I have looked at houses here in NJ, where the realtor didn't offer up info at the outset about problems with the property, but when I asked (1) Has this house been under contract yet? and, if so, (2) Why did the deal fall through?, she verbalized what the issues were. I'm guessing that the realtor (who has a duty to disclose) was maybe going to disclose that info later, after the potential buyer already had an emotional investment in the property? Maybe, as my mother used to say, "You don't sell fish by yelling "Rotten fish! Get your rotten fish here!" A realtor here (I don't know laws in other states) would be liable if she had knowledge and didn't disclose it at some point.

To put it more clearly--if the deal fell though because of the results of an inspection report, the listing agent would know the reason and is obligated to share the info.

Hm, I walked away from a purchase because of defects that showed up during inspection and were not easily repairable (long story, but that's basically why the seller decided to sell). Seller and realtor stonewalled, not even acknowledging the defect until I got paper work they had filed with local agencies to complain.
A year later, the property sold. I'm pretty sure that the defects were not disclosed as the neighboring property still had the exactly same defects.

Tom Pearson to me your post looks like spam. You attached it to a thread that ended in 2015? Your link is to an Australian site? While there are some similarities it will not help the majority of posters who are from the US.

My daughter and her husband bought a house, they are young. After the closing we went to start to remodeling the house and we found Asbestos tiles on the bedroom floors, some of the tiles on the other part of the house were removed. The seller started to put new tile. And they had to remove the Asbestos ties to put new tile. The just gave them the front copy of the inspection report that showed the name of inspector and phone number and when it was done. That page also said it contains 27 pages. But it never disclosed anything and the seller refuses to give them any information on the report. Is there anyway we can get that report. We belive it disclosed the Asbestos in the report and the seller never disclosed it. So what options do they have.

Usually it's best to start a new thread instead of reviving an old one. People pay more attention.

If there was asbestos, the seller must disclose that information. At least in my area a typical inspection does not include asbestos unless the purchaser asks for it specifically. That often requires an additional inspection. How do you know this is asbestos?

It sounds as if your daughter and her husband did not do their own inspection. Why not? Saving a few hundred dollars and not doing one can end up costing most people much more money as your family is finding out. There is the rare person that is qualified and knows enough to forego an inspection.

There is no easy or cheap way to get the inspection report from the sellers. It belongs to them. If you're children wanted it, the time to get it was before they closed. You could engage an attorney, but I suspect that will cost more than dealing with the problem.