Home Inspection Report in Quebec: Who Owns It, and What Sharing It Commits You To

Once the inspection is over, the report lands in the buyer's inbox, and the question of passing it on comes up fast: to the seller, to back a request, to a relative, to another buyer if the deal falls through. It feels like a small gesture. It isn't, because a report that has been shared moves knowledge that can't be taken back. This article is about that one question. What an inspection costs and what it covers are dealt with in our article on pre-purchase inspection costs.

A report written for one client, under a contract

The inspector works for the person who hired them, usually the buyer. The report is the product of that engagement: it is written for that client, on a given date, within the limits agreed with them. Inspection contracts often state who the report is intended for and how it may be used.

Two consequences follow. First, the seller has no right of their own to the report: they didn't order it or pay for it. Second, the buyer who holds it isn't entirely free to use it however they like if their contract with the inspector limits its distribution. Before passing it on, it is worth rereading that contract.

The seller has no automatic right to it, unless the promise says so

Outside what the promise to purchase provides, the buyer is not required to hand the report to the seller. The promise can, however, arrange things differently, especially when the buyer relies on the inspection condition to withdraw or to ask for an adjustment. Depending on what it provides, passing on the report, or some of its findings, can then be part of that step.

The first question isn't "should I send it?" but "what does my promise say?". Your broker can tell you what your form requires, and what is entirely your choice.

What sharing teaches the seller, for a long time

This is the most underestimated consequence. A seller who has received an inspection report now knows what that report describes. If the transaction closes, that changes little. But if it falls through and the property goes back on the market, the seller's position has changed.

They can no longer present as unknown a defect that was flagged to them in writing. What they know is now part of what they must disclose to later buyers. For a buyer who found a serious problem, giving the report to the seller therefore has an effect beyond their own transaction: the information follows the property into its future sales, through what the seller can no longer ignore.

Sharing with a third party: why a report travels badly

Sometimes a report circulates beyond the two parties: a buyer who walks away gives it to a relative interested in the same property, or a seller shows it to a later buyer to reassure them. In those cases the document stays the same, but its value changes.

The report was written for another client, on another date, with the limits agreed with them. The person receiving it generally has no contractual relationship with the inspector and cannot treat the document as their own inspection. A report a few months old may also no longer describe a condition that has changed. It informs; it doesn't replace an inspection done for you.

Showing the report means showing everything

An inspection report is a complete document: it contains the major findings, but also minor remarks, the inspector's reservations and sometimes observations on general upkeep. Sending it in full means sending all of that, including what you didn't intend to highlight.

That doesn't mean keeping it to yourself. It means the choice to pass it on, in full or in part, is made knowing what it contains and what the recipient will take from it. A partial disclosure must stay faithful to the document: presenting an excerpt that distorts the report's meaning would create a problem of a different kind.

Before you hit "send"

Three checks are enough. What the inspection contract says about how the report may be used. What the promise to purchase says about passing it on. And what you are trying to achieve by sharing it, so you can choose to send it in full, in part or not at all.

A report once shared can't be taken back: the information in it now also belongs to whoever received it. That is why it gets passed on after thought, never by reflex.