Guide to the New Home Inspection Law

At my most recent open house in Winchester, I had several unrepresented buyers ask me about the new law that "requires buyers to have a home inspection." I had to politely inform that while I love that idea, it's definitely not what the new law is stating. So what is really changing? Let me walk you through it:

As of 10/15/25 the new law has gone into effect and any updates as of that date have been included below. 

What This Means:

For Buyers:
You can't be coerced into waiving your inspection before your offer is accepted. You also can no longer waive your inspection on an offer but you do not need to perform one.

For Sellers:
You must provide the required disclosure and ensure your sale process respects a buyer’s inspection rights.

For Agents:
You will need to be even more vigilant in ensuring your buyer clients aren't coerced into waiving their inspection and ensuring your sellers don't break the new law.

Before the New Law:

Licensed real estate agents (not sellers) must provide all buyers with the Home Inspector Consumer Fact Sheet - that's even written on our standard offer forms. Sellers already had no legal right to deny a buyer from doing a home inspection. That being said, because MA has been in such a competitive market for so long, sellers have forgotten that the standard Home Inspection Contingency on an offer is meant to be used to protect the buyer's deposit should something catastrophic be discovered, the act of waiving that contingency, does not actually mean you cannot or will not do an inspection. 

After 10/15/25:

• Sellers or their agents cannot require buyers to waive or limit a home inspection in order to accept an offer.
• Sellers cannot accept offers that include required inspection waivers.
• At the time of the first signed contract, sellers must provide a signed disclosure confirming the buyer’s right to inspect and allowing reasonable time to decide based on results signed by both parties.
• Any contract language that effectively nullifies an inspection is a violation.
• Buyers may still choose to waive inspections, but only if the decision is fully voluntary and not influenced by the seller or their agent. They can only waive it AFTER an offer is accepted.

Exemptions and Special Situations

The law doesn’t apply in every scenario. Exemptions include:

• Family transfers (sales between relatives or former spouses).

• Foreclosures or deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure.

• Estate planning transfers (including trusts).

• New construction sold before substantial completion, if the builder provides a one-year written warranty.

• Public auctions conducted by a licensed auctioneer.

• Contracts signed before October 15, 2025.

My Perspective as a Realtor and Educator

As a Massachusetts Realtor, I’ve watched how competitive markets have forced buyers into challenging positions for a long time. This law is an attempt to restore balance but in my opinion, it doesn't reach far enough to do that.

Much like the minimal change of buyer's agents being required to use contracts with their clients (I’ve been doing this for my whole career!), I don't expect to see any big changes after October 15th, 2025, except that the packet you sign before submitting an offer will have a couple extra pages of disclosures. Buyers will still waive their inspection to compete against other buyers or to avoid throwing more money at the seller to win a home. What do you think will happen?

Consumer protection is paramount and part of why I love my job so much is because I can stay on top of the regulations, trends and strategies to best inform and protect my clients. So while this was well intention ed, I really don't think it's going to have the effect the government hopes for - we'll see! Honestly, I'd love it if inspections were legally mandated, that'd be great and the home inspector job market would have a great boom too!