e010212 Can an inspector pay a real estate company to refer business?

Identifier: e010212

Date: 12/22/2001

Question 

Is it ethical to pay a real estate organization an up-front fee and a per transaction fee to get business referred?

Response

No, it is not ethical for a home inspector to pay a real estate organization an up-front fee OR a per transaction fee to get business referred. This question is similar to a previous Request for Interpretation, RFI e010112, dealing with home inspector payments to real estate companies (not real estate organizations), which appeared in the Members Only/Breaking News section of ASHI's web site on March 7 [2001] and is partially reprinted on page 13 of the April [2001] ASHI Reporter. 

The previous response to the similar Request for Interpretation (RFI e010112c) stated that payments by home inspectors to real estate companies for referrals, endorsements, "approved" or "preferred" listings, marketing partnerships, special relationships, usage of another's logo or trademark, or similar benefits are inconsistent with the Code of Ethics even if the payments are called advertising, marketing, etc. As specifically stated in the response to RFI e010212c "up front" payments for such purposes are inconsistent with the Code of Ethics. 

And, as indicated by the response to the first question of RFI e010112c, "per transaction" payments for such purposes are also described as inconsistent with the Code of Ethics. For the same reasons as in the response to RFI e010112c, similar payments for such purposes by home inspectors to real estate organizations (or to others working for or on behalf of real estate companies) are also inconsistent with the ASHI Code of Ethics. Also, see e010112c.