Mr. Albert Arduini, president of the Quebec Association of Building Inspectors (AIBQ), has revealed at a press conference, the salient facts of the new Standard of professional practice for the visual inspection of mainly residential buildings.
“We are proud to diffuse today the principal criteria of our new Standard of professional practice, which will constitute, as of the 1st of January, 2010, the minimal requirement for the execution of the pre-purchase inspections of mainly residential buildings which will be carried out by the inspectors members of the AIBQ”, declared Mr. Arduini in front of an audience made up of journalists and of a great number of building inspectors joined together within the framework of the 16th national annual Congress of the Canadian Association of Home and Property Inspectors (CAHPI).
The evolution of the medium of professional inspection of buildings, the growing needs of the consumers as well as the increased requirements of the real estate market are at the origin of this new Standard of practice which had not been subject to important modifications for almost ten years. The improvements made by the Quebec Association of Building Inspectors thus come to reinforce the criteria to which only its members have the obligation to answer within the framework of their inspections. The French and English version of this new Standard of practice of some thirty pages is available on the Website of Association at www.aibq.qc.ca . The new Standard of professional practice of the AIBQ, which imposes requirements among the most rigorous in North America, is characterized in particular by the following aspects:
1. A widened field of application which is not limited any more to a residential building of less than five apartments. Thus, the Standard of revised practice applies to inspections aiming at a part or at the whole of the buildings of three floors and of 600 square meters, indexed in the following categories: one-family dwelling, multi-apartment dwelling, divided or undivided joint ownership, building with commercial assignment when it is mainly occupied by residential dwellings.
2. Increased protection for the general public, in particular through the addition of a new section which deals with the safety of the occupants.
3. A more complete and detailed inspection survey, which will make it possible to the future purchaser to have a better knowledge of the state of the coveted building.
4. A congenial, more precise and much more detailed presentation.
5. The obligatory integration of photographs, a convention of services and a declaration of the salesman.
Let us recall that the first mission of the Quebec Association of Building Inspectors is to ensure the protection of the general public thanks to:
• the application of high requirements during the admission of its new members and to the maintenance of the status of the inspectors who already are members of Association;
• the rigorous training of its members whose criteria stipulate, inter alia, respect for the Standard of practice of the AIBQ and for its code of ethics;
• the requirement of continuous training;
• the obligation to hold a professional responsibility insurance (errors and omissions).
This new Standard of professional practice for the visual inspection of mainly residential buildings was developed by the AIBQ and by the Association of the Brokers and Real Estate agents of Quebec (ACAIQ). At the time of its revealing, Mr. Claude Barsalou, executive vice-president and secretary of the ACAIQ, stressed the importance emanating from this new standard for the brokers and the real-estate agents of Quebec.