The inspection condition: how many days, and what can you do with it?

The inspection condition is the clause of the offer to purchase that lets you have the house inspected and, depending on the result, renegotiate or walk away without penalty.

In Quebec the usual window is 7 to 10 days after acceptance, sometimes less in a hot market. That window must hold the inspection, reading the report, follow-up checks and, if needed, quotes. It is extended only if the seller agrees in writing.

The OACIQ offer-to-purchase form provides that you may have the property inspected by a professional of your choice within the agreed period. If the report reveals a factor that significantly reduces the value or makes you unable to buy on those terms, you may notify the seller in writing: the offer then becomes null, or the parties negotiate.

The notice must state reasons and include a copy of the report. You do not withdraw “because the report is long”: you must point to specific items. That is where an orderly reading of the report matters.

The inspection itself (half a day), delivery of the report (often 24 to 48 hours), reading it, then the checks the report recommends: plumber for Poly-B, electrician for the panel, camera in the drain, pyrite test. Each takes days to obtain.

If the checks cannot be done in time, ask the seller for a written extension, negotiate on the basis of a documented unknown, or withdraw. Letting the deadline pass without notice amounts to acceptance.

A pre-purchase inspection of a single-family home most often runs a few hundred dollars. Follow-up checks (plumber, electrician, camera, laboratory) add on, each in the hundreds.

These are orders of magnitude. Confirm them with the professionals.

Here is what I would do.

1. Book the inspector before the offer is even accepted, so as not to lose three days.
2. Read the report the same day and list the recommended checks, with whom to call.
3. Ask for a written extension as soon as a check will not fit in the window.
4. Word the notice to the seller with specific items from the report, not a general impression.

I sort your report into three lists, Fix first, To check and Can wait. I say which checks to do before the deadline, and I prepare the negotiation strategy. That way, the window serves to decide rather than to read.

Does your report mention this? Send it to me. In five minutes, I tell you what is priority, what to have checked and what to ask the seller.

No. The form requires a factor that significantly reduces the value or prevents the purchase on the agreed terms, with a written, reasoned notice and a copy of the report. An abusive withdrawal can be challenged.

The condition is deemed fulfilled and the offer continues as if the inspection were satisfactory.

Yes. They are not obliged to grant one. Hence the importance of starting the checks without delay.