Home inspector ordered to pay $200,000 to homeowners
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Updated: November 12, 2009 4:44 PM
A home inspector will have to pay almost $200,000 in damages for conducting a faulty inspection of a North Vancouver home.
In a ruling last week, Justice Grant Burnyeat found Imre Toth's inspection was "negligent" and "woefully inadequate" when, in 2006, he told Manuel Ignacio Salgado and Nora Gabriela Calcaneo that remedial work to a property would cost about $20,000.
Problems with the $1.1-million home, which they purchased after Toth's inspection, ended up totaling over $212,000.
The court ordered Toth to pay the difference between the initial repair estimate and the actual costs. In the ruling, the judge said Toth rushed his report and failed to fully inspect the home, which was later found to have rotten wooden beams at the time of the inspection.
Reached for comment, Toth said he plans to appeal the decision: "We are within our legal time to make an appeal and most likely it will happen."
The home inspector said he won't comment any further on the matter as he hopes to take it back to the courts.
"We're sorry for everybody," said Owen Dickie, president of the Canadian Association of Home and Property Inspectors of B.C., of which Toth is a member. "We're sorry for the consumer. We're sorry for the inspector. It's really unfortunate."
Dickie said the ruling shows, "the system is working properly. It's unfortunate this mistake was made but mistakes do happen and they happen in every profession."
In March 2009, B.C. home inspectors were mandated to undergo licensing and carry insurance in case of legal action from customers.
"What the regulation does is reduce the chances of error and at the same time if there are significant errors then there is the potential for compensation for consumers," Dickie said.
kmcmanus@northshoreoutlook.com
