The 2025 Massachusetts Home Inspection Law: What Changed

For most of the last decade the advice given to buyers in a competitive Greater Boston round was some version of the same thing: if you want the house, give up the inspection. That advice is now obsolete, and in Massachusetts it describes something a seller is not permitted to ask for.

Where the rule came from

The Affordable Homes Act — Chapter 150 of the Acts of 2024 — directed the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities to regulate home inspection waivers. EOHLC adopted 760 CMR 74.00, Residential Home Inspection Waivers, published in June 2025 with an effective date that was subsequently pushed back after industry consultation. It took effect on October 15, 2025, and applies to residential sales contracted after that date.

What it prohibits

Three things, and the third is the one that gives the first two their force:

1.A seller of residential property, or their agent, shall not condition the acceptance of an offer to purchase, or the execution of an agreement to sell, on the prospective purchaser's agreement to waive, limit, restrict or forgo a home inspection.
2.They shall not accept an offer that would require the purchaser to waive it.
3.Contract terms that render a home inspection meaningless are not permitted either — a window too short to schedule an inspection and read the report, restricted access to the property, or a clause preventing the buyer from walking away over what is found.

The third provision is what stops the rule being drafted around. A twelve-hour inspection window is not an inspection right; the regulation treats it accordingly.

What it still allows

The rule is narrower than the shorthand "Massachusetts banned inspection waivers" suggests, and the distinctions matter:

A buyer may still decide not to inspect. Once under agreement, and once the required disclosure has been signed, the choice is the buyer's to make. What it may not be is influenced or required by the seller or the seller's agent — and it cannot be promised in advance in order to win the house.
A reasonable repair-cost threshold may be agreed: the parties can limit the buyer's right to walk to cases where the estimated cost of repairs exceeds a stated, reasonable figure.
The deposit refund may be reasonably limited if the buyer chooses not to proceed after inspecting.
As-is sales still exist. An as-is provision governs what a seller will repair, not whether a buyer may inspect. The two are frequently confused.
Sellers still choose among offers on price, deposit, financing, timeline and every other term. Nothing in the regulation dictates which offer is accepted.

The disclosure form

On or before the first written contract — the offer, in the usual Massachusetts sequence — the seller or listing agent must provide the Massachusetts Mandatory Residential Home Inspection Disclosure, signed by both parties. It records that the agreement is not contingent on the waiver or limitation of the buyer's choice to obtain a home inspection, that the buyer may engage a licensed inspector of their own choosing, and that a reasonable period will be provided to decide whether to proceed. Keep the signed copy in the file.

Who is exempt

The prohibitions do not reach:

Auctions and foreclosure sales, and deed-in-lieu transfers.
Transfers between relatives, or between former spouses.
Certain estate-planning transfers to relatives.
Certain new construction sales, where the first written contract precedes substantial completion and the sale includes a one-year written warranty. See buying new construction — the exemption concerns the waiver rule, not whether inspecting a new house is a good idea.
Contracts signed on or before October 15, 2025.

How it is enforced

A failure to provide the required disclosure is treated as an unfair or deceptive act or practice under M.G.L. c. 93A, which carries the exposure that statute is known for — multiple damages and attorney's fees where the conduct is knowing or wilful. Brokers and salespersons are additionally subject to licensing discipline. The regulation applies in a business context; an isolated private sale by a homeowner sits differently.

What actually changed for buyers

The strongest inspection-related positions available to you now are these:

Inspect for information only. You keep the right to walk but agree not to come back for repairs or credits. This gives the seller what they actually want — certainty, no renegotiation — and is still permitted.
A tight but workable window. Five days rather than ten is a real concession. Twelve hours is not a concession, it is a prohibited term.
A reasonable repair threshold.
A pre-offer inspection, arranged during a showing before offers are due, so you write from knowledge.

What this has done in practice is push competition back onto price, deposit size, appraisal gap coverage and timeline — see how to win a bidding war for what each of those costs you when it goes wrong.

What changed for sellers

You may not ask for a waiver and your agent may not ask for one on your behalf, including informally. The disclosure is now part of your paperwork, and the consequence of skipping it is a 93A exposure rather than an administrative slap. Everything else about choosing between offers is unchanged. What Massachusetts sellers must have ready covers the rest of the file.

What has not changed at all

An inspection report is still not a repair list, and a buyer who returns with forty items still loses goodwill and sometimes the house. Safety, structure and systems at end of life are what a negotiation is legitimately built on. The inspection guide covers how to read a report and what to do with it.