A new Massachusetts law that limits using home inspection waivers to speed up the sale process is drawing fire from some real estate agents who say it creates more problems than it solves.
The law, tucked into a $5 billion housing bond bill that Gov. Maura Healey signed last summer, bars sellers or their agents from saying they’ll only accept offers from buyers who agree to waive their right to a home inspection. Sellers also can’t accept an offer if a buyer or their agent indicates they’ll waive that right.
The inspection is often a critical step in the homebuying process because it may reveal flaws such as structural damage that cause a buyer to lose interest. However, in a tight housing market, people can feel pressure to waive the inspection to compete with other buyer candidates.
First-time buyers, especially, are vulnerable because they may not realize how risky it is to skip an inspection, State Sen. Will Brownsberger (D-Boston) wrote on his website. In addition, the average buyer is competing with flippers and investors who are in a better position to go without an inspection, he said.
“Buying a home is one of the biggest purchases many families will ever make. Shouldn’t you have the right to know exactly what you’re purchasing before you sign a binding contract?” State Sen. Michael Moore (D-Millbury), who sponsored the law in 2024, said in a statement after the bond bill passed.
A problem with concrete from some quarries in Central Massachusetts and Northeast Connecticut that can cause house foundations to crack over time drew Moore’s interest in the inspections issue, a spokesperson for his office said in an interview. Without inspecting houses, buyers wouldn’t have a chance of knowing if the property they’re interested in has a problem.
The new law may wreak havoc on the homebuying process, the Massachusetts Association of Realtors said in a statement on its website.
“This is an unprecedented shift away from a market-driven economy where consumers have the freedom of contract,” the group said.
In a May letter to the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, the state agency finalizing rules to implement the law, the Realtors association cited a number of issues it sees. For example, it said newly built homes should be exempt from the law, since city or town building officials would normally inspect those properties before they can be occupied. The group also wants waivers to be allowed if a buyer chooses to pay for a home inspection before making an offer.
Anthony Lamacchia, a Massachusetts real estate agent who serves as a liaison between agents and the National Association of Realtors, was blunt in his criticism of the law on his YouTube channel.
“Agents representing sellers have got a fiduciary duty to do everything they can in the best interest of the seller. Buyer agents also have that duty to help their clients land the property. So the law doesn’t really make sense,” he said. “Buyers should be allowed to make their own choices.”
In the May letter to the state agency, the Massachusetts Association of Realtors asked for the law’s effective date, currently July 15, to be delayed to October to give more time to understand the legal implications.
The state agency emphasized in a May Facebook post that the law does not require homebuyers to have an inspection.