The International Association of Certified Home
Inspectors (InterNACHI) promotes a high standard of professionalism,
business ethics and inspection procedures. InterNACHI members who perform Home Energy Inspections and produce home energy reports for their clients must subscribe
to the following Code of Ethics for Home Energy Inspectors in the course of their business.
- Duty to the Public
- The InterNACHI member shall abide by the Code of Ethics for Home Energy Inspectors and substantially follow the InterNACHI Standards of Practice for Performing a Home Energy Inspection.
- The InterNACHI member shall not engage in any practices that could
be damaging to the public or bring discredit to the home inspection
industry.
- The InterNACHI member shall be fair, honest, impartial, and act in good faith in dealing with the public.
- The InterNACHI member shall not discriminate in any business
activities on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin,
familial status, sexual orientation, or handicap, and shall comply with
all federal, state and local laws concerning discrimination.
- The InterNACHI member shall be truthful regarding his/her services and qualifications.
- The InterNACHI member shall not:
- have any disclosed or undisclosed conflict of interest with the client;
- accept or offer any disclosed or undisclosed commissions, rebates,
profits, or other benefit from real estate agents, brokers, or any third
parties having financial interest in the sale of the property; or
- offer or provide any disclosed or undisclosed financial compensation
directly or indirectly to any real estate agent, real estate broker, or
real estate company for referrals or for inclusion on lists of
preferred and/or affiliated inspectors or inspection companies.
- The InterNACHI member shall not release any information about the
inspection or the client to a third party unless doing so is necessary
to protect the safety of others, to comply with a law or statute, or
both of the following conditions are met:
- the client has been made explicitly aware of what information will be released, to whom, and for what purpose, and;
- the client has provided explicit, prior written consent for the release of his/her information.
- The InterNACHI member shall always act in the interests of the
client unless doing so violates a law, statute, or this Code of Ethics.
- The InterNACHI member shall use a written contract that specifies
the services to be performed, limitations of services, and fees.
- The InterNACHI member shall comply with all government rules and
licensing requirements of the jurisdiction where s/he conducts business.
- The InterNACHI member shall not perform or offer to perform, for an
additional fee, any repairs or associated services to the structure for
which the member or member's company has prepared an inspection
report for a period of 12 months. This provision shall not include
services to components and/or systems that are not included in the
InterNACHI Standards of Practice for Performing a Home Energy Inspection.
- Duty to Continue Education
- The InterNACHI member shall comply with InterNACHI's current Continuing Education requirements.
- The InterNACHI member shall pass InterNACHI's Online Inspector Exam once every three calendar years.
- Duty to the Profession and to InterNACHI
- The InterNACHI member shall strive to improve the home inspection
industry by sharing his/her lessons and/or experiences for the benefit
of all. This does not preclude the member from copyrighting or marketing
his/her expertise to other Inspectors or the public in any manner
permitted by law.
- The InterNACHI member shall assist the InterNACHI leadership in
disseminating and publicizing the benefits of InterNACHI membership.
- The InterNACHI member shall not engage in any act or practice that
could be deemed damaging, seditious or destructive to InterNACHI, fellow
InterNACHI members, InterNACHI employees, leadership or directors.
Accusations of a member acting or deemed in violation of such rules
shall trigger a review by the Ethics Committee for possible sanctions
and/or expulsion from InterNACHI.
- The InterNACHI member shall abide by InterNACHI's current membership requirements.
- The InterNACHI member shall abide by InterNACHI's current message board rules.
Members of other associations are welcome to
join InterNACHI, but a requirement of membership is that InterNACHI must
be given equal prominence in their marketing materials (brochures and
websites) compared to other associations of membership.