As of January 1st, Utah has a new law in place that says that property inspectors for residential or commercial, they need to have a property inspector license now. And they do have a little bit of a grace period though.  So if you haven’t got your license yet, there’s still a chance to get that done in the next little while.

Funny Story

It’s funny, I had someone call me a couple years ago and they were so angry and I had to calm them down a little bit just to hear what they were angry about. And they were mad about an article that we had posted on our school website, talking about real estate brokers, real estate agents, talking about getting licensed as a real estate broker or sales agent.

We were talking about other industries nearby like title agents, like mortgage agents, like property inspectors. And one of the things in the article mentioned that property inspectors did not need to have a license. Actually, what it said was real estate brokers do not need to have a property inspection license.

And they were so angry about that. And they told me all about how their company was built on the best of education and on the best of certifications and how they were very proud of the great work that they did and all of the education they had and how important that was to them and their business. And they were really mad that we would post on our website on the internet that a real estate broker did not need a property inspector license.

And well, the fact is, in order to do real estate, you don’t need an inspector license. And in Utah, there were no property inspector licenses at the time. And that made me say, wait a minute, where are you calling from? And they were calling from another state.

And in that other state, there was a property inspector license required. And so obviously they were correct in the fact that they needed to have a license, that professionals needed to have a license. And they must have just misread my article a little.

But in vindication to them, now in Utah, you do need a property inspector license to inspect properties.

Grace Period for Building Inspectors

So, hey, but what did I say about a little grace period? It’s January 1st is when that took effect. But let’s take a look at the requirements for getting a property inspector license, building inspector.

So here on the Division of Professional Licensing website, they have the kind of the information about it. Right here it says, beginning January 1, they require a building inspector license. So for private home inspectors right here, it says that January 1 is the time that that’s available.

And so if you are a property inspector, a building inspector, and you wanna get your license now, all you need is to have current liability insurance and errors omissions insurance with minimum coverage amount of 500,000 with the division as a certificate holder and have one of these certifications. The ASHE, American Society of Home Inspectors, or the InterNACHI, International Association of Certified Home Inspectors, or from the ICC, the International Code Council, a residential combination inspector certification. So if you have those things, then you can go ahead and apply and get your Utah building inspector license.

Building Inspector License Temporary Requirements

  • Liability Insurance $500,000 minimum
  • Errors and Omissions Insurance $500,000 minimum
  • Hold one of these certifications:
    • American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI)
    • International Association of Certified Home Inspectors (InterNACHI)
    • International Code Council (ICC) as a Residential Combination Inspector

Learn more at the Utah Division of Professional Licensing

Full Building Inspector Rules

But let’s look at the whole statute and see if someone wanted to get their inspector license. Now, there’s actually two different licenses you can get. One is called the combination inspector and one is called the limited inspector, okay? So the combination inspector, if you wanna do that, you have to have either the combination inspector certification from the ICC or all of the following from the ICC, the building inspector certification, electrical inspector, residential electrical inspector, and, excuse me, the plumbing inspector certification, and the mechanical inspector certification, okay? If you have all of those, then you can become what they call a combination inspector and inspect all aspects of the property.

If you don’t have that, you can still be a limited inspector, and this is kind of area-specific, right? So they have a long list here of electrical inspector, plumbing inspector, residential mechanical inspector, okay? They have all these different options that you can do that would allow you to become a limited inspector and inspect only that particular area of the property, okay? But if you wanna do all of it, then you’re probably looking at this combination inspector. So once again, those deadlines started on January 1st, 2026, so just about two weeks ago, and anybody who already has been inspecting property can go ahead and fulfill those requirements of having insurance and having one of those certifications and go get your license today. And this is great because it allows us to hold the whole industry to a little bit of a higher standard, you know? The reason for licensing is always so that we can take those professionals and ensure that they have a certain level of knowledge and experience, that they can provide the best service possible to those homeowners who are trying to look out for their families.

Read the full statute.

So I think this is a really great thing. Hopefully you think so too, and let’s see everybody get licensed.