Inspectors say new law could slow mold detection, home sales

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A termite inspector also will not be allowed to tell a homeowner of any

potential mold problems they might discover while inspecting a home, said Mark

Hopper, owner of Hopper Environmental Services in Mountain Home.

“We will not be able to tell anyone that they have mold in a crawl space

because we will not be licensed or certified to identify it,†Hopper said. “

The way the law is written now, our hands are tied when it comes to

reporting mold.â€

Bray said inspectors will have to make some adjustments under the law.

“I don’t think it’s going to affect what they do as much as they’re

going

to have to tweak their inspection process and they’re going to have make

sure they don’t issue any statement that says you have mold in the house,â€

he said.

- Arkansas News - _http://arkansasnews.com_ (http://arkansasnews.com/) -

Inspectors say new law could slow mold detection, home sales

Posted By jjefferson On September 28, 2009 @ 12:41 am In Arkansas News

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By Rob Moritz

Arkansas News Bureau

LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas homeowners could see a delay in the detection and

removal of health-threatening, property damaging mold because of a possible

shortage of inspectors that also could potentially slow home sales when new

licensing requirements go into effect next year, industry officials say.

Few current home inspectors meet the qualifications set forth in the new

law, and completing the requirements for state certification could take

months, if not years, said Rodgers, president of the Arkansas Association

of Real Estate Inspectors. He estimated that only about 15 percent of the

association’s 300 members currently do mold inspections.

“The state is going to lose a lot of people who are providing a service to

the people of Arkansas and there’s no easy, quick way of getting people to

the training,†said Rodgers, who works for A+ Home Inspections in Siloam

Springs. “We feel there are going to be parts of the state that are not going

to be serviced by a mold inspector because there won’t be any licensed in

that area.â€

State Plant Board Director Daryl Little, whose agency is responsible for

writing the licensing regulations, said he was aware of concerns about the

law, set to go into effect Jan. 1.

“But we really don’t know how many people have those credentials and we

probably won’t know until we start issuing the license,†Little said.

Rodgers’ association and the Arkansas Pest Management Association opposed

the legislation approved by the Legislature this year, while the Arkansas

Home Builders Association and the Arkansas Realtors Association did not take

a position.

Currently, home inspectors and pest control personnel who spot suspected

mold in homes and alert the owners without any specific certification. Act

1467 requires that all mold investigators be licensed and regulated by the

state.

The law defines mold investigator as someone who, for a fee, “performs the

service of examining residential or commercial buildings to confirm or

refute the presence of a proliferative source of mold in a residential or

commercial building.â€

To be licensed, mold investigators, as the law describes them, will have to

be certified as an industrial hygienist by the American Board of

Industrial Hygiene; as a microbial consultant or indoor environmental

consultant by

the American Indoor Air Quality Council; or must successfully complete at

least 20 hours of college-level microbiology.

The legislation’s sponsor, Sen. Sue Madison, D-Fayetteville, said she

introduced the measure at the request of some Northwest Arkansas real estate

agents who “felt like something should be done to keep all kinds of lay people

from making pronouncements of mold in homes.â€

Madison said the word “mold†has such a negative connotation that if used

inaccurately, it can greatly affect property values.

“Anyone who makes such a determination … needs to be qualified,†she

said.

Bray, who manages the pest control section at the State Plant Board,

said regulations to implement the new law should be completed next month

and presented to the agency’s Pest Control Committee in late October. The

regulations then would be presented to the Legislative Council’s Review

Committee.

Home inspectors and termite inspectors say their job responsibilities will

have to change because of the new law, which they say could delay

information getting to perspective homebuyers.

“It’s a bunch of bureaucracy being added on unnecessarily,†said Hubert

White, owner of Professional Property Inspections in Hot Springs.

White said he never tells homeowners he found mold but lets them know of

the possibility, then sends samples to a laboratory in Arizona for testing, a

process he said costs the homeowner up to $300. No one has questioned the

accuracy of his mold sampling and use of the Phoenix lab during his eight

years in business, he said.

“I won’t be able to give them that verification via sampling†under the

new law, White said, adding that getting certified would be expensive,

estimating it could cost up to $1,200. “And then there’s state registration

fees. Who knows how much that could be?â€

License registration fees at the state Plant Board start at $150 a year,

but the agency has not yet determined what the fee would be for a mold

investigation license.

A termite inspector also will not be allowed to tell a homeowner of any

potential mold problems they might discover while inspecting a home, said Mark

Hopper, owner of Hopper Environmental Services in Mountain Home.

“We will not be able to tell anyone that they have mold in a crawl space

because we will not be licensed or certified to identify it,†Hopper said. “

The way the law is written now, our hands are tied when it comes to

reporting mold.â€

Bray said inspectors will have to make some adjustments under the law.

“I don’t think it’s going to affect what they do as much as they’re

going

to have to tweak their inspection process and they’re going to have make

sure they don’t issue any statement that says you have mold in the house,â€

he said.