A. A person who is not a licensee shall not:

(1) conduct home inspections, develop a report or otherwise engage in the business of home inspection;

(2) in the course of conducting business, use the title "home inspector", "certified home inspector", "registered home inspector", "licensed home inspector", "professional home inspector" or any other title, abbreviation, letters, figures or signs that indicate the person is a licensed home inspector; or

(3) use the terms "state licensed" or "licensed" to refer to an inspection conducted or a report prepared by a person who is not a licensee.

B. A business entity shall not provide home inspection services unless all of the home inspectors employed by the business are licensees.

C. A business entity shall not use, in connection with the name or signature of the business, the title "home inspectors" to describe the business entity's services unless each person employed by the business as a home inspector is a licensee.

D. The Home Inspector Licensing Act does not apply to a person:

(1) licensed by the state as an engineer, an architect, a real estate qualifying or associate broker, a real estate appraiser, a certified general appraiser, a residential real estate appraiser or a pest control operator, when acting within the scope of the person's license;

(2) licensed by the state or a political subdivision of the state as an electrician, a general contractor, a plumber or a heating and air conditioning technician, when acting within the scope of the person's license;

(3) regulated by the state as an insurance adjuster, when acting within the scope of the person's license;

(4) employed by the state or a political subdivision of the state as a code enforcement official, when acting within the scope of the person's employment;

(5) who performs an energy audit of a residential property;

(6) who performs a warranty evaluation of components, systems or appliances within a resale residential property for the purpose of issuing a home warranty; provided that all warranty evaluation reports include a statement that the warranty evaluation performed is not a home inspection and does not meet the standards of a home inspection pursuant to the provisions of the Home Inspector Licensing Act. A home warranty company shall not refer to a warranty evaluation as a home inspection;

(7) who in the scope of the person's employment performs safety inspections of utility equipment in or attached to residential real property pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 62 NMSA 1978 or rules adopted by the public regulation commission; and

(8) hired by the owner or lessor of residential real property to perform an inspection of the components of the residential real property for the purpose of preparing a bid or estimate for performing construction, remodeling or repair work in the residential real property.

History: Laws 2019, ch. 239, § 5.

Effective dates. — Laws 2019, ch. 239, § 17 made Laws 2019, ch. 239 effective January 1, 2020.