Inspectors say new law could slow mold detection, home sales

[Guest guest]

Inspectors say new law could slow mold detection, home sales

Posted on 28 September 2009

By Rob Moritz

Arkansas News Bureau

http://arkansasnews.com/2009/09/28/inspectors-say-new-law-could-slow-mold-detect\

ion-home-sales/

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. "

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. "

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. "

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? "

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. "

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, " he said.