The Texas Real Estate Commission adopts amendments to §535.223, concerning Standard Inspection Report Form, without changes to the proposed text as published in the February 28, 2014, issue of the Texas Register (39 TexReg 1338).

The amendments notify consumers that an inspector may include contractual terms or attach a service agreement or inspection contract to the standard form, clarify that an inspector may change the standard form as necessary to allocate additional space for comments in the "Additional Information Provided by Inspector" section and in the sections for each inspected item, clarify that an inspector may also attach additional pages for comments, and adopt by reference changes to the standard inspection form, Property Inspection Report Form REI 7-4, approved by the Commission for use in reporting inspection results.

These amendments recognize inspectors may have contractual terms, including service agreements and inspection contracts, as well as additional comments they would like to convey to consumers and include as part of the standard inspection form.

The Property Inspection Report Form was revised to add a notice to the consumer that although the inspector may include contractual terms in or attached to the form, the Commission does not regulate contractual terms between the parties and consumers should consult an attorney if they do not understand those terms.

The reasoned justification for the amendments is to provide consumers with additional notice of contractual terms included by inspectors in service agreements or inspection contracts and ensure that inspectors have an opportunity to provide additional information to consumers as part of the standard inspection form, thereby resulting in greater consumer protection.

No comments were received on the amendments as proposed.

The amendments are adopted under Texas Occupations Code, §1101.151, which authorizes the Texas Real Estate Commission to adopt and enforce rules necessary to administer Chapters 1101 and 1102; and to establish standards of conduct and ethics for its licensees to fulfill the purposes of Chapters 1101 and 1102 and ensure compliance with those chapters.

The statute affected by this adoption is Texas Occupations Code, Chapter 1102. No other statute, code or article is affected by the amendments.