[Published
Feb. 26, 2015, in the Jeffco editions of the Denver Post's YourHub section]
When I was first licensed in real estate back in 2002, we and appraisers were the only real estate professionals to be licensed. Back then, a person fresh out of prison could become a mortgage broker—great for practicing identity theft. Now they are licensed and fingerprinted. Last year legislation was enacted requiring professional HOA managers to be licensed. Now, all four professions require schooling, the passing of state examinations, fingerprinting, and continuing education.
The “last frontier” is the licensing of home inspectors. Colorado was one of the last states to license mortgage brokers and community managers, and remains one of the only states not to license home inspectors.
The Department of Regulatory Agencies, like other state entities, is required to be reauthorized every few years, and part of that process is a “sunset review” report, in which existing regulations are re-evaluated and other functions are considered for implementation.
That review process took place last year and the resulting report suggested that home inspectors should be licensed and regulated. Currently, inspectors are totally unregulated, although there are professional organizations that certify inspectors.
Legislation in support of that recommendation was introduced in this session of the General Assembly, but unfortunately died on a party-line vote in the state senate. Hopefully new legislation will be more successful.
No comments:
Post a Comment