TOPIC: Contract Clause

Below is a clause from my Home Inspection Contract.

It is understood that the CLIENT will purchase a service contract on all major mechanical appliances such as but not limited to: furnace, boiler, hot water heater, a/c condenser ect. as a term of this agreement within two weeks after close of escrow.  The duration of the service agreement must be one year minimum. Failure to do so will compromise this agreement.

This clause was inspired by one of my HI teachers who uses it in his contract. He also gets the seller to sign a permission slip form of an agreement to allow him on the property to perform the inspection. If the seller is not present the sellers agent will do. I think the permission slip may be a little much, but I would like to know what you all think about the Mechanical Systems clause. It's intention is to avoid the midnight on Christmas Eve call saying 'my heat is out and you inspected it'. I am told that is always when those calls come in. I also would like to force the client to do something good for themselves by getting their heat and or appliances serviced.


                                                                                                                                                                           

A couple of thoughts --

1.  I am not sure it is the purview of the home inspector to "force" the client to do anything, good for him or not.
2.  I am not sure it is the purview of the home inspector to nullify his agreement if the client does not get his own insurance (service contract).  What does the one thing have to do with the other thing?  My agreement states what I do and do not do, and the SOP of my state and association, which I adhere to.  I don't know that I can nullify that with a secondary agreement for the buyer to do something on his end.
3.  I have never heard of such a clause, but I always suggest that the client get a home warranty.  However, you can lead a horse to water, but...
4.  I have never gotten a midnight call...  for anything.  That is not when they "always" come in.
5.  In VA, the seller agrees to let me on the property when he signs the sales agreement and initials the box allowing an inspection.
6.  I am bonded so the seller can be confident I am a good boy.  It also protects me.

There's my 2 cents Drew!  I have a hot date with an 11 year old (we're seeing "Dog Hotel" and given more time I might have more than 2 cents...

Drew, I'll double check with my attorney (my Dad), but I can't see how you can legally add that into your contract for all the reasons that Jay stated (forcing a client to go get a service to make yours valid).

Hey I gotta say, its a make me feel good clause, but like Jay says, I don't think it would hold up.  If I'm not mistaken you cant force someone to "buy" something to make your situation (that they already paid for) binding.  If it were free, it might be a different story.

I posted this clause because when I wrote it into my Agreement it seemed like an added layer of protection for me and a way to have the client do good by themselves. (as I said previously) When my teacher showed this to me in his Contract he used it in the context of making his Agreement bullet proof. After talking to my wife, numerous local inspectors, and you guys, everyone has raised an eyebrow over this. I will remove this clause before I turn this agreement (which is essentially a tweaked NACHI agreement) loose on the American public. Next week my Attorney gets all my Contracts : commercial, Pre-listing, WDO/WDI, etc, for review. Since he charges a fortune for his time, I try to get things as close to complete as I can beforehand. 

Yeah I turned my HI contract into an attorney up the street and he read through it, made two tweaks to it and said everything looked great.  Didn't charge me a cent.  Said I did all the work for him.

Hope yours will do that same for you!  My did was an attorney so I know they can get a lil pricey.  lol