An article was featured in the current issue of Working RE magazine that highlighted a current case where an appraiser is being sued after mistakenly identifying a carbon monoxide detector (it was actually a smoke detector) during an appraisal inspection. The home inspector also incorrectly identified the unit as a combo unit. Due to a series of unfortunate events, the home owners died from carbon monoxide poisoning several months after the appraisal & home inspection. Both the appraiser and home inspector are being sued for negligence as they both used photos of the smoke detector in their reports and incorrectly labeled the photos as being of carbon monoxide/combo units.
This is a good reminder to spend the extra time to verify that the unit in question is actually a carbon monoxide unit as it can be difficult to tell at times. It is also a good opportunity to review the verbiage in your reports to ensure you are not warranting the functionality or age of the unit.
See the full article HERE.
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