Home inspection: what and why

By: Michal Turkia

We use the term home inspection (bedek bayit, literally "house check") in more than one context. When a company CEO says he needs to do a bedek bayit, he means a renewed, rigorous review of the chain of authority in the company, its internal and external policy, and its financial conduct.

When a family is going through a crisis, marital, educational, or financial, the same term can describe an internal look at the household's foundations, values, and feelings.

What home inspection means in its original sense

A home inspection is a professional, rigorous examination by an expert engineer of every part and detail that makes up the house, checking whether each one conforms to the regulations set by law. As in the CEO example, the engineer looks for deviations or non-conformities running through the house's own "chain of command": walls, floors, plumbing and electrical systems, sanitary fixtures, waterproofing, and so on. As in the family example, the check also looks at how all those parts function together.

It is, in fact, the most thorough examination you can run on your house, to confirm that it is sound, free of construction defects, safe, and in good condition.

So why run one? When you suspect a defect, such as cracks in the walls, dampness, or crooked flooring, it is natural to bring in a home inspection company to assess the full range of problems, run a building inspection, and lay out your options, repair or financial compensation from the contractor during the warranty period.

But what about when everything looks fine? You would not expect a CEO to launch a bedek bayit while the company is thriving, any more than you would expect a happy family to seek counseling. So why order an inspection for a beautiful new apartment, still gleaming and full of its new residents' excitement?

Why assume there might be any defects at all, let alone ones serious enough to lower the apartment's value or pose a safety risk?

Here is why: an inspection is the only way to confirm that the apartment you bought will keep meeting your expectations for years to come. A considerable share of defects cannot be caught by an untrained eye without the right equipment, and only rarely does a buyer discover on their own that the home they paid for falls short of the standards and safety rules the law requires. That is exactly what the inspection period exists for.

After you buy an apartment, the law sets a fixed window called the inspection period (tkufat bedek). It varies by component, walls, waterproofing, windows, sanitary fixtures, and so on, and usually runs several years.

During this window, it is straightforward to establish the contractor's responsibility for any defects found. Once it ends, a further three-year window opens, the contractor's warranty period, during which you can still order an inspection and require the contractor to fix defects, except that now the burden of proof falls on the resident, not the contractor: you have to show the defect came from the construction itself, not from wear or careless use.

So do not let the contractor's warranty period slip by. Order the inspection, and the sooner the better.