Septic tank lid broken by home inspector

Q. The people who are buying our home hired a home inspector. He was here yesterday and broke the lid on our septic tank. When we got home, one piece of it was on the ground next to the tank, and we were told the rest of it is at the bottom of the tank. The home inspector and the buyers refuse to pay for this damage. They say the lid was in bad condition and would have broken no matter who opened it. It so happens that we had the tank professionally pumped one year ago and nothing was wrong with the lid then. Since we were not here during the inspection, it's the home inspector's word against ours, and we're being told we must pay for a new concrete lid. Do you agree with this?

A. In my view, the home inspector should accept responsibility for the damage to your septic tank cover and the cost of replacement. There are four reasons for this opinion:

• The fact that the lid was removed without being damaged only one year ago indicates it may not have been in very deteriorated condition. The septic contractor should be consulted for an opinion on this.

• If the lid was so fragile it was beginning to crack, the home inspector should have observed this and left it in place before it actually broke apart.

• Home inspectors who practice their profession with integrity take responsibility for damages that occur during an inspection, and they do so without finding alibis and excuses. It's better to establish a good reputation as a business person than to dodge the cost of an incidental repair.

• Above all, inspection of a septic system is outside the Standards of Practice for the home inspection industry. This is true for every major home inspection association: the American Society of Home Inspectors and all of the state and provincial home inspector associations in the United States and Canada.

For example, section 6.2 of the ASHI Standards of Practice states: "The inspector is not required to inspect septic and other sewage disposal systems."

The reason for this exclusion is that home inspectors are not equipped to inspect a septic system. The only way to adequately evaluate a septic system is to pump out the contents of the tank to enable inspection of the interior. The only people who are equipped to do this are professional septic contractors.

Bottom line: A home inspector who causes property damage while exceeding the professional Standards of Practice should accept responsibility for the consequences of that course of action. That is what any responsible and ethical home inspector would do.

Q. If a third-floor attic bedroom has a window three stories high and no fire escape, can it legally be considered a bedroom with a second conforming egress if you must jump three stories to the ground?

A. The building code does not address this issue, given the impracticality of jumping from a third-story window. A last-resort solution would be to keep a long rope ladder in the closet. Although many people lack the nerve to use a ladder at that height, the adrenaline induced by a house fire might provide sufficient courage.

• To write to Barry Stone, visit him on the web at www.housedetective.com, or write AMG, 1776 Jami Lee Court, Suite 218, San Luis Obispo, CA 94301.

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