What Fixes Are Mandatory After a Home Inspection in Texas?
Texas puts almost no mandatory home inspection repairs into law for an ordinary resale. A seller must give the buyer a signed disclosure notice under Texas Property Code Section 5.008 for any home with one dwelling unit, but that notice records what the seller knows. It isn't a promise to fix anything. What gets repaired depends on your contract, your lender, and your use of the option period.
Fidelis Home Inspections wrote this for Richmond and Fort Bend County buyers and sellers holding a long report and a short deadline. Our home inspection services page explains what each inspection covers. This guide covers which fixes you can't avoid, which only feel unavoidable, and how to bargain over the rest.Buyers preparing for their appointment can also learn what to expect from a home inspection in Richmond, TX before the inspection begins.
Mandatory Home Inspection Repairs
No Texas law forces a seller to fix what an inspector finds on a standard resale. Repairs become required through a few doors: a signed contract amendment, a lender's loan conditions, an insurer's underwriting or a narrow state statute.
How a repair becomes required | Typical example | Who decides |
Signed amendment | Seller agrees to replace a leaking water-heater drain pan | Buyer and seller |
Lender conditions | Peeling paint on an FHA loan for a house built before 1978 | Appraiser and underwriter |
Insurance underwriting | Federal Pacific panel, or a roof near the end of its life | Insurance carrier |
State statute | Smoke detectors for a hearing-impaired buyer | Texas law |
Nothing at all | Worn carpet, dated fixtures, or a dripping faucet | Negotiation, or no one |
Think of mandatory home inspection repairs as a short list buried inside a long report. A report can list dozens of deficiencies, and only a few become something the deal can't survive without.
Do Sellers Have to Fix Inspection Issues?
No, not by default. A seller must repair only after agreeing to it in writing, normally on a TREC amendment signed during the option period.
The buyer's protection is the termination option in the TREC resale contract: for an option fee, the buyer can cancel for any reason within a negotiated number of days. The contracts typically last from 5-10 days, and the fee range is a few hundred dollars for the Houston area. If the window is cancelled, the earnest money is returned and the seller retains the fee.
After the window closes, you're no longer in the game. Any buyer wishing to have an item included as a mandatory home inspection repair must have it placed on a signed amendment that gives the buyer the following information: Report page item is on, who is doing the repairs and when the repairs are to be done.
There's one real statutory exception. A buyer who, or whose family member, is hearing impaired can require the seller to install smoke detectors for the hearing impaired, with a licensed physician's written evidence and a written request shortly after the contract's effective date (Texas Health and Safety Code Chapter 766). Your agent can confirm the deadline and cost terms.
Tip: Record all agreed repairs on a signed TREC amendment – not email or verbal. Items that live only in a text thread tend to vanish between the option period and the closing table. |
Lender Required Repairs: FHA, VA and Conventional Loans
Lender required repairs are the nearest thing to a true mandate because the loan will not fund until the listed items are fixed. FHA and VA appraisers can require repairs for safety, soundness and security. Conventional lenders mostly act on condition notes in the appraisal.
Specifically, this is as illustrated in HUD Handbook 4000.1. If the home was constructed before 1978, the appraiser is required to document the defective paint on interior and exterior surfaces (cracking, scaling, chipping, peeling, and loose paint) and require that the paint be repaired (24 CFR 200.810(c)). The date is important because lead paint has not been used to paint consumer items since 1978.
Your home inspector doesn't trigger any of this. The appraiser does, so a neat inspection doesn't mean a neat appraisal. Common signs: falling paint on older homes, exposed wiring, missing handrails on stairs, leaking roofs and non-functional heating.
While it may still be negotiable, sellers normally pay for these items, as it’s basically a dead contract. In practice, they are more like mandatory home inspection repairs, although they are not. A repair escrow holdback is permitted by some lenders, so inquire early.
Who pays is still negotiable, but sellers usually cover these items because the alternative is a dead contract. In practice they behave like, even though no statute says so. Some lenders allow a repair escrow holdback, so ask yours early.
Insurance is a quieter mandate. Many carriers question roofs near the end of their service life and Federal Pacific or Zinsco panels, and a house you can't insure is a house you can't finance. Insurers write their own version of mandatory home inspection repairs. So get a quote during the option period not the week before closing.
What to Do After a Bad Home Inspection
Read the entire report the day you receive it then sort every weakness into three piles: safety, major systems and maintenance. Secure written bids for the top 2 piles. Do not discuss money with anybody.
Knowing is mostly a matter of order:
Read the body of the report, not just the summary, and find items that are not inspected. If your attic is locked, it's an unknown – and that is an item you can put in your option period.
If there was any movement, contact a licensed contractor, such as a plumber, an HVAC technician, a roofer, and a foundation engineer and send report pages and photos. In Texas, inspectors are not allowed to do repairs on the houses they inspect, so it is bids from the trades.
Make a choice on your ask: repair, credit, price decrease, or termination.
Bring an edited amendment to the seller signed, but still allow the seller to respond.
Be sure to confirm the exact time of the option period. You can lose your ticket due to being a day late.
Separate the findings that could become mandatory home inspection repairs. Such as lender or safety items from the merely expensive ones. The first group leads your request. The second gets a price conversation.
Tip: Send contractors the report page and photos rather than describing the problem by phone. Photo based bids arrive faster and tend to land close to the final invoice. |
Who Pays for Inspection Repairs
The question of who pays for inspection repairs normally resolves into four choices:
Option | How it works | Watch for |
Seller completes repairs | Seller hires professionals before closing | Rushed work; ask for invoices, permits, and a reinspection |
Credit at closing | Seller covers part of your costs at closing | Lender caps on seller contributions |
Price reduction | Seller lowers the sales price | The appraisal must still support the price |
Buyer pays later | You accept the home as is | Budget for the work before you commit |
Lenders limit what a seller can contribute. In a conventional loan, seller concessions are capped at 3, 6 or 9 percent of the sales price based on the down payment amount, whereas FHA caps seller concessions at 6 percent of the sales price. On a $350,000 purchase, that's $21,000 at 6 percent and $10,500 at 3 percent. Confirm the numbers with your lender before building a request around credits.
Items tied to a loan or a safety code are the mandatory home inspection repairs where the seller almost always pays. For everything else, the table above is a menu.
How to Negotiate Inspection Repairs in Texas
Prioritize safety concerns and the two or three most expensive repairs and include a written estimate for each. A short and cost-based request with supporting estimates is more effective than a long list of demands.
To negotiate inspection repairs in Texas, you need numbers first. These are estimated Houston area ranges. Use them to sanity check bids, not to replace them.
Finding | Estimated cost | Common ask |
Smoke alarms, GFCI outlets, handrails | $150 to $600 | Seller repairs |
Active plumbing leak or failed water heater | $300 to $2,500 | Seller repairs |
Air conditioner not cooling | $350 to $1,500 repair; $6,500 to $12,000 replacement | Repair or credit |
Roof leaks or worn shingles | $400 to $2,000 repair; $9,000 to $22,000 replacement | Credit or price cut |
Foundation movement | $1,500 to $5,000 localized; $10,000 to $30,000 or more if extensive | Engineer’s report, then price cut |
Federal Pacific or Zinsco panel | $2,000 to $4,500 | Seller repairs |
Four tactics that move sellers:
Compare the report with the seller's disclosure notice. If the seller indicated that there were no known roof leaks, then be sure to note that the ceiling has some old stains on it, and politely request a remedy.
Offer flexibility. A later closing date or a short rent back costs you little and can matter a lot to the seller.
Set a response deadline of 24 to 48 hours. Open ended requests stall past the option period.
Consider any item that's not required by the home inspection to be trade bait, and drop any item that is not safety related early, so your safety-related items appear reasonable.
Sellers can make the first move: An inspection prior to listing reveals the report that a buyer will read and time can be used to address problems with cheap items in a discreet manner.
Common Issues Found in Home Inspection Reports
The most important findings are foundation movement caused by clay soil, aging air conditioners and roof damage from storms or moisture. These issues can affect the home's value, but they do not naturally require repairs.
During wet months, Gulf Coast clay swells, causing foundations to shift, bricks to have stair step cracks and doors to stick during dry months. No matter how well a cooling unit performs on a hot summer day, an air conditioner in its 15th year should be replaced, as air conditioning is a workhorse during the summer in Houston.
Flooding adds a local layer. Harvey put floodwater into parts of Fort Bend County in 2017, and the Texas disclosure notice asks sellers about flood damage and insurance claims. Here, mandatory home inspection repairs more often come from insurance and flood determinations than from the report itself.
Tip: Ask the seller for the home's insurance claim history and any flood policy during the option period. A pattern of water claims tells you more than one dry afternoon of inspecting. |
TREC Licensed Inspector in Richmond, TX
The inspector follows state standards and classifies each item as inspected, not inspected, not present or deficient. The report documents condition. It never orders a repair.
That's why a report alone can't create mandatory home inspection repairs. Provide the photos and page numbers for which you are amending. If your inspector agrees with the repair ask him/her to reinspect it afterwards; a short reinspection (around $100 to $200) is better than taking the seller's word for it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do sellers have to fix everything on a home inspection?
No. A Texas seller has no legal duty to repair what the report lists. The seller fixes only what they agree to in a signed amendment, plus the rare item a lender or city makes unavoidable.
What is the biggest red flag in a home inspection?
Water intrusion associated with the structure that is active (stains, soft framing or mold around a window or slab edge, or around roof edge). It can appear on the interior of drywall and frequently has drainage or foundation issues. Several major systems failing in one house is a close second.
Who is responsible for repairs after a home inspection?
Whoever signs for them. There is no obligation to repair unless there's a written amendment. Once it is done, the seller will fill in the agreed items before the closing, and the buyer will become the owner of all the other items once the deal is finalized.
Can a seller refuse repairs after inspection?
Yes. The buyer can then accept the house as is, ask for a credit or price cut, or terminate during the option period and get the earnest money back. After that window closes, walking away usually puts the earnest money at risk unless another contract right applies.
How long are you liable for repairs after selling a house?
No fixed warranty clock exists for a seller who disclosed honestly. Liability generally requires a hidden or misrepresented defect, and fraud or deceptive practices claims carry deadlines of roughly two to four years depending on the claim. A buyer who finds concealed damage should call a Texas real estate attorney quickly. This is general information, not legal advice.
How common is it to back out after a home inspection?
Most deals survive. Renegotiating is much more common than termination, and termination rates are not easy to come by, so don't take any hard and fast numbers from the Internet. The most frequent defect not priced in by the seller is foundation or water/electrical issues, which buyers most often walk away from.
Is your inspector TREC licensed?
Yes. Our inspector holds TREC Professional Inspector license 27069, which you can confirm on the TREC website before you hire anyone.
How much does an inspection cost in Richmond and when should I schedule?
The 400-600 range is an estimate based on most single family homes, square footage and age. Schedule the day your contract becomes effective, because every day you wait comes out of your option period.
Do you inspect homes outside Richmond?
Richmond is our home base. Call to confirm whether an address elsewhere in Fort Bend County fits our schedule.
Plan Your Home Inspection Today
Call (832) 278-0239 and e-mail alex@fidelishomeinspections.com the day the contract becomes effective to schedule a Richmond, TX home inspection. Early scheduling allows time for bids and for the amendment to be signed prior to the option period closing.
The single family inspection in the Richmond area is $400 to $600 (estimate; please check for an exacsingle-familyelis Home Inspections will explain what each finding means for your negotiation.
Sources
Texas Property Code Section 5.008, Seller's Disclosure of Property Condition, Texas Legislature. Mandates sellers of residential property who have one dwelling unit to provide sellers with a written disclosure of known conditions.
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. (HUD) Single Family Housing Policy Handbook 4000.1. Establishes FHA appraiser responsibilities such as the need to repair old homes built prior to 1978 that have defective paint.
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