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? <br />maintained that if city inspections are not mandatory many homes will never get <br />inspected, this way an inspection is made only when a buyer requests one. He <br />believed that asking an inspector to become registe:red and fill out a form will <br />frighten most inspectors out of the city. If a private inspector finds a problem <br />the buyer and seller negotiate it through the price. Once a release has been <br />signed, the buyer is committed to buying the houseo If there is a mandatory <br />inspection and violations ar.e found, problems can be corrected before the house <br />is put on the market. If this kind of follow up inspection is made after the <br />buyer has signed the contract, the buyer would be forced to correct the <br />violations. Mr. Conway ag.reed that the inspectiora would take. place after the <br />contract is signed. If the city found violations, it would be stipulated that the <br />property could not transfer until the violation is corrected or unless a waiver <br />was signed that the violations would be corrected within in a specific time <br />period. Who pays for the corrections is not the point, if the buyer accepts the <br />report and does not ask the owner to correct the violations before going ahead <br />with the deal, then it would be his responsibility to make the repairs. Mr. <br />Conway pointed out that his responsibility is to the city as a whole, not to the <br />buyer or the seller, and the city can only ask for corrections of code <br />violations, it cannot ask for corrections to anything that is not an actual <br />violation. Mr. Piar asked if anyone has checked with Lakewood or other cities <br />whicYi have point of sale inspections to see exactly what their basic inspection <br />is. Mr. Conway stated that he worked in Lakewood for 7 years and there is no <br />basic inspection, frequent.ly the inspection is limited to those areas in which <br />the inspector is knowledgeable. Mr. Piar stated that the State of Ohio is looking <br />into licensing home inspectors, and presented a newspaper article about home <br />inspections. He reiterated tha,t licensing irispectors and requiring them to <br />complete an additional report for which they are not paid will scare away most <br />private inspectors from working in North Olmsted. He cannot understand ho« the <br />city can expect a private inspector to do the city's work. Mr. Conway explained <br />that this form is also a checklist to determine if an inspector is doing a <br />competent job and, if this scares an inspector away, perhaps he should not be <br />working in North Olmsted. He believed that government interferes enough with <br />private people, he does not want the city inspectors in private homes Unless <br />necessary, but if there is a problem, the city will respond. Mr. Piar was <br />concerned about the homes that might never be inspected. He objected that Mr. <br />conway wanted to have control over private inspectors who are hired by private <br />individuals, and believed. that this report should be confidential between the <br />inspector and his client. Mr. Conway stated that it could not be confidential, <br />because in June of 1993 the State of Ohio has required that any deficiencies of a <br />house must be reported. Mr. Kazak stated that he saw the inspection report of <br />every house he sold. Mr. Conway believed that the buyer, the seller, and the <br />realtor should all get a copy.of the report. Mr. Piar stated that the buyer can <br />give a copy to the seller if he wants to. Mr. Conway advised that he did not want <br />his inspectors to read the enti:re report, that is why he made up this form which <br />would give the pertinent information. He merely wanted to use a tool that is <br />available to him. In response to Mr. Burk's question, Mr. Conway stated that he <br />would not lmow if an inspection were made without a permit, he would have to spot <br />check the home transfer i-nformation to see if an inspection had been done. This <br />would be the same as a contractor doing work without a permit. He maintained that <br />there have been some bad inspections in town. The city does not require a bond to <br />be registered. Mr. Burk does not believe that filling out the form and getting a <br />permit will scare off these inspectors, and Mr. Kazak did not believe it would <br />take more than 5 minutes for an inspector to fill this out after he has done his <br />report. The members discussed qualifications and guidelines for inspectors. Mr. <br />Piar stated that he had 16 years experience as a carpenter and then went to a <br />2