| (a) Educational requirements.
(1) To be accepted for inspector licensing, a course must meet
each of the following requirements.
(A) The course was devoted to a subject listed in Texas Civil
Statutes, Article 6573a (the Act), §23(a)(3); provided, however, no more
than 30 cumulative classroom hours in course credit may be accepted by the
commission for inspection-related business, legal, report writing or ethics
courses.
(B) The student was present in the classroom for the hours
of credit granted by the course provider, or completed makeup in accordance
with the requirements of the provider, or by applicable commission rule.
(C) Successful completion of a final examination or other form
of final evaluation was a requirement for receiving credit from the provider.
(D) The daily course presentation did not exceed ten hours.
(E) The course was offered by one of the following providers:
(i) a school accredited by the commission;
(ii) a school accredited by an inspector regulatory agency
of another state;
(iii) a college or university accredited by a regional accrediting
association, such as the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association
of Colleges and Schools, or its equivalent, or by a recognized national or
international accrediting body;
(iv) a unit of federal, state or local government;
(v) a nationally recognized building, electrical, plumbing,
mechanical or fire code organization;
(vi) a professional trade association; or
(vii) an entity whose courses are approved and regulated by
an agency of this state.
(2) The term "code organization" means a non-profit organization
whose members develop and advocate scientifically based codes and standards
relating to one or more of the systems found in an improvement to real estate.
The term "professional trade association" means a nonprofit, cooperative,
and voluntarily joined association of business or professional competitors
that is designed to assist its members and its industry or profession in dealing
with mutual business or professional problems and in promoting the common
interest of its members.
(3) Except as provided to the contrary by this section, the
review and acceptance of correspondence courses or courses offered by alternative
delivery systems such as computers will be conducted in the manner prescribed
by §535.62 of this title (relating to Acceptable Courses of Study). Correspondence
courses are acceptable only if offered by an accredited college or university.
(4) Providers may obtain prior approval of a classroom course
by submitting the following items to the commission:
(A) a course description, including the number of hours of
credit to be awarded;
(B) a timed course outline;
(C) a copy of any textbook, course outline, syllabus or other
written course material provided to students; and
(D) a copy of the written final examination which measures
a student's mastery of the course.
(b) Experience requirements.
(1) An applicant may substitute the following experience or
additional education in lieu of the number of real estate inspections required
by the Act and in lieu of the requirement that the applicant has previously
been licensed for a specified time as an apprentice inspector or a real estate
inspector:
(A) For a real estate inspector license, the applicant must
have completed at least 30 additional hours of core real estate inspection
courses acceptable to the commission, with at least 10 hours of credit each
for the structural, mechanical (including appliances, plumbing, and HVAC components)
and electrical systems found in improvements to real property, or the applicant
must provide documentation satisfactory to the commission to establish that
the person has been licensed or registered at least three years as an architect,
professional engineer, or engineer-in-training, or has at least five years
of personal experience inspecting, installing, servicing, repairing or maintaining
each of the structural, mechanical and electrical systems found in improvements
to real property. Documentation of experience must be in verified form and
from persons other than the applicant who have personal knowledge of the applicant's
occupation and work.
(B) For a professional inspector license, the applicant must
have completed at least 60 additional hours of core real estate inspection
courses acceptable to the commission, with at least 20 hours of credit each
for the structural, mechanical (including appliances, plumbing, and HVAC components)
and electrical systems found in improvements to real property, or provide
documentation satisfactory to the commission to establish that the person
has been licensed or registered at least five years as an architect, professional
engineer, or engineer-in-training, or has at least seven years of personal
experience inspecting, installing, servicing, repairing or maintaining each
of the structural, mechanical and electrical systems found in improvements
to real property. Documentation of experience must be in verified form and
from persons other than the applicant who have personal knowledge of the applicant's
occupation and work.
(2) For the purpose of measuring the number of inspections
required to receive a license or to sponsor apprentice inspectors or real
estate inspectors, the commission will consider an improvement to real property
to be any unit which is capable of being separately rented, leased or sold.
Subject to the following restrictions, an inspection of an improvement to
real property which includes the structural and equipment/systems of the unit
will constitute a single inspection.
(A) Half credit will be given for an inspection limited to
structural components only or to equipment/systems only.
(B) No more than 80% of the inspections for which experience
credit is given may be limited to structural components only or to equipment/systems
components only.
(C) A report which covers two or more improvements will be
considered a single inspection.
(D) Real estate inspectors and professional inspectors may
not receive experience credit for an inspection performed by an apprentice
under their supervision.
(E) The commission may not give experience credit to the same
applicant or professional inspector for more than three complete or six partial
inspections per day. No more than three applicants may receive credit for
the inspection of the same unit within a 30 day period, and no more than three
apprentice inspectors may receive credit for an inspection of the same unit
on the same day.
(F) For the purpose of satisfying any requirement that a license
be held for a period of time prior to an applicant's being eligible for a
license as a real estate inspector or professional inspector, the commission
may not give credit for periods in which a license was on inactive status.
An applicant for a real estate inspector license must have been licensed on
active status for a total of at least three months within the 12 month period
prior to the filing of the application. An applicant for a professional inspector
license must have been licensed on active status for a total of at least 12
months within the 24 month period prior to the filing of the application.
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