What Does a Seller Have to Fix After a Home Inspection?

Almost nothing — unless your contract says otherwise. This surprises a lot of first-time buyers. The common assumption is that the home inspection creates a list of required repairs the seller must complete before closing. In most jurisdictions and under most standard purchase contracts, that is not how it works.

Understanding what sellers are and are not obligated to fix changes how you approach inspection negotiations — and helps you focus your requests where they actually matter.

The Legal Reality: Sellers Are Rarely Required to Make Repairs

In a standard residential sale, the inspection contingency gives the buyer the right to request repairs — not the right to demand them. The seller can accept the repair request, refuse it entirely, offer a partial credit, or propose an alternative resolution. If the two parties cannot agree, the buyer has the option to walk away and recover their earnest money, or to proceed with the purchase knowing the issues exist.

There are two common exceptions where sellers may have a legal obligation regardless of what the inspection reveals:

Disclosure laws. Every state has seller disclosure requirements. Sellers must disclose known material defects — structural problems, water damage, known mold, unpermitted work, and similar issues. If the inspection reveals something the seller knew about and did not disclose, that is a different legal matter than a simple repair request. Buyers in this situation should consult a real estate attorney.

Loan program requirements. Certain loan types — particularly FHA and VA mortgages — have specific property condition standards that must be met for the loan to be approved. If the property has health or safety issues (a missing handrail, peeling paint in a pre-1978 home indicating lead paint risk, a malfunctioning heating system), the lender may require those items to be corrected before closing. In these cases, the seller must either make the repairs or lose the sale — because the buyer's financing depends on it.

Conventional and cash purchases carry no such requirements. If you are buying with a conventional loan, the only leverage you have is the inspection contingency itself.

Can a Seller Refuse to Allow a Home Inspection?

Technically yes — a seller can refuse to allow a home inspection as a condition of the sale. However, this is a significant red flag and a rare occurrence in standard transactions. Any seller who refuses to permit a professional inspection is raising a serious question about what they do not want you to see.

In practice, most purchase contracts include an inspection contingency that is agreed to by both parties when the offer is accepted. If the seller accepted a contract with an inspection contingency, they have already agreed to allow the inspection to proceed. Refusing at that point would put them in breach of contract.

Where a seller might legitimately limit inspections is in auction sales, estate sales, or properties sold strictly as-is. In those contexts, the sale terms are usually disclosed upfront and priced accordingly.

What Buyers Should Actually Request After an Inspection

The goal of a post-inspection repair request is not to get a perfect house. It is to address items that are either safety hazards, structural defects, or major system failures that were not disclosed and that materially affect the value of what you agreed to buy.

Requests that tend to land well:

Health and safety issues. Hazardous electrical panels (Federal Pacific Stab-Lok, Zinsco), active gas leaks, radon levels above the EPA action threshold, or mold growth in the HVAC system. These are the strongest requests because they carry liability for the seller if left unaddressed.

Material defects that affect the structure or weather envelope. A leaking roof, failing flashing, water intrusion in the foundation, or rot in the siding. These are items that will get worse and more expensive if not addressed — sellers know this.

Major system failures not disclosed. A non-functioning furnace, a failed HVAC compressor, a water heater at the end of its life. If these were not mentioned in the seller's disclosures, they are reasonable credit requests.

Requests that tend to fall flat:

Cosmetic issues. Peeling paint, old carpet, worn fixtures. Unless the property was represented as being in move-in condition and it clearly is not, sellers will dismiss these — and rightfully so.

Normal wear-and-tear. Creaky floors, sticky windows, aging appliances that still function. These are part of buying a used home.

Items visible during the showing. If you saw the water stain on the ceiling at the open house and bought the house anyway, asking the seller to repair it post-inspection is a weak position.

The Repair-vs-Credit Decision

When sellers do agree to address inspection findings, buyers often have the choice between the seller making repairs before closing or receiving a credit at closing to handle the work themselves.

Credits are usually preferable. When sellers make repairs, they are motivated to do so as cheaply as possible with the contractor of their choice. You have no control over the quality of the work or whether it fully resolves the underlying issue. A credit puts the money in your hands and lets you hire your own contractor with full accountability.

Credits require you to have cash on hand post-closing. In practice, many buyers apply credits toward closing costs rather than earmarking them for specific repairs.

How to Frame Your Repair Request

Asking for a $12,000 list of every finding in the inspection report signals that you are difficult to work with and can cause sellers to walk away from the deal entirely.

Effective repair requests:

• Focus on a small number of material findings
• Reference the specific finding from the inspection report
• Attach contractor estimates or cost references where possible
• Ask for a credit at closing rather than repairs where feasible
• Set a reasonable negotiation anchor rather than the full replacement cost

A 22-year-old furnace does not need to be replaced at the seller's expense before closing. But asking for a credit of $4,000 toward a new unit — when a replacement costs $8,000 to $14,000 — is a reasonable, well-framed request that most sellers will at least engage with seriously.

The Home Inspection Checklist at firsthometoolkit.com/home-inspection-checklist/ includes a three-tier negotiation framework that separates health-and-safety items from functional defects from maintenance issues — so you know exactly which findings to push on and which ones to let go.