What is a home inspection contingency?
The short answer is that a home inspection contingency is
a contingency in your offer that indicates your offer is contingent upon
a satisfactory home inspection.
As of October 15, 2025, if you’re buying a condominium or a single family or a two-family or a three-family or a four-family in Massachusetts, you have the right to hire a licensed home inspector and inspect the property. The seller cannot require you to waive that right or accept an offer only if you agree to skip or limit the inspection. That being said, after offer acceptance, you’re still free to decide not to inspect, if you choose.
A seller must present to the buyer In Massachusetts, the seller‑inspection disclosure with an inspection form that s formally known as the
“Mandatory Residential Home Inspection Disclosure Form”
Here’s what the mandatory residential home inspection form does and what it requires:
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The seller (or their listing agent) must provide the Mandatory Residential Home Inspection Disclosure Form to the buyer before or at the signing of the first written contract (e.g., the Offer to Purchase or Purchase & Sale agreement).
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The disclosure must be signed by the seller and the buyer and the listing agent.
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The form states that the buyer has the right to have a home inspection by a licensed home inspector, and that the seller has not conditioned the acceptance of the offer on the waiver of that inspection.
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It confirms that the buyer must be given a “reasonable period of time” after the contract is fully executed to get the inspection, review the results, and decide whether to proceed.
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It also ensures that the seller and their agent will not include contract language or practices that undermine the inspection right (for example, by limiting scheduling or by accepting an offer where the buyer has already indicated they will waive inspection
Typically, the home inspection contingency clause in an offer looks something like this:
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Note that the inspection contingency clause included here asks the Buyer to indicate several things:
1) The date by which the home inspection it to be completed. The standard is a reasonable period of time.
and
2) if the home inspection results are not satisfactory to the buyer and the buyer is terminating the transaction are they doing so
"in buyer's sole discretion" (meaning they are exercising their right to walk away because they are not satisfied with condition of property following home inspection)
OR
"the estimated aggregate cost of repairs exceeds _________ dollars" with the buyer filling in the blank for the dollar amount with a reasonable number. Say, for example, the buyer makes this choice and fills in $5,000 to indicate "the estimated aggregate costs of repairs exceeds $5,000 dollars" - Then, in this example, the buyer would be able to exit via the home inspection contingency if the estimated aggregate cost of repairs exceeds $5,000.
When you make an offer in Massachusetts, you are required to receive the Home Inspector Consumer Fact Sheet. Be sure to review this document. Your Buyer's Agent ought to be giving you a copy of it when you are making an offer.
It's important to note that by definition the home inspection contingency clause affords the Buyer the right to exit the transaction. The home inspection contingency clause does not by definition afford the Buyer the right to renegotiate the purchase price based on findings. For sure, if the inspection uncovers a serious issue previously unknown, the Seller may be open to negotiation. However, it is important for a Buyer to remember that the Seller is not obligated to enter into negotiations after the home inspection. It's especially true in a hot Seller's market that most Sellers are resistant to renegotiating after the home inspection based on findings.
I help Buyers BUY and Sellers SELL in Cambridge and Somerville, MA. Here to help you. Let's talk.
Call me at 617-733-8937 or email me.
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