I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2130 
To establish programs to provide counseling to homebuyers regarding vol-
untary home inspections and to train counselors to provide such coun-
seling, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 27, 2009 
Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Financial Services 
A BILL 
To establish programs to provide counseling to homebuyers 
regarding voluntary home inspections and to train coun-
selors to provide such counseling, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Consumer Protection 
Home Inspection Counseling Act of 2009’’. 
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SEC. 2. PROGRAM TO TRAIN COUNSELORS TO PROVIDE 
CONSUMERS WITH VOLUNTARY HOME IN-
SPECTION COUNSELING. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of Housing 
and Urban Development (in this Act referred to as the 
‘‘Secretary’’) shall establish a comprehensive program to 
train staff of the Department, contractors, individuals, 
and entities that provide housing counseling under pro-
grams authorized, certified, or funded under section 106 
of the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968 (12 
U.S.C. 1701x) to also provide counseling to consumers on 
voluntary home inspection. The training program shall in-
clude development of a training module to train counselors 
as well as counseling aids to be used by housing counselors 
and suitable for distribution to consumers. The training 
materials shall be written in plain language and shall be 
comprehensible to untrained consumers with or without 
ongoing assistance from housing counselors. 
(b) CONTENT.—At a minimum, the home inspection 
counseling program established under this section, and the 
training module and counseling aids developed under this 
section, shall convey the following information: 
(1) That a home inspection in connection with 
purchase of a home is voluntary, but not mandatory. 
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(2) That the Department of Housing and 
Urban Development recommends that homebuyers 
obtain a voluntary home inspection. 
(3) That a home inspection is not required in 
the case of an FHA loan insured under title II of 
the National Housing Act (12 U.S.C. 1707 et seq.) 
and that a home inspection is not performed by 
FHA. 
(4) That in most cases, no home inspection will 
be performed unless the homebuyer requests one. 
(5) That it is the burden of the homebuyer to 
arrange for a home inspection if one is requested. 
(6) That an appraisal is not equivalent to a 
home inspection. 
(7) That the homebuyer may be able to make 
the purchase of a home contingent on the outcome 
of a home inspection if the seller agrees to such a 
contingency in the sales contract. 
(8) That if the homebuyer chooses to obtain a 
home inspection, it is generally to the homebuyer’s 
benefit to do so as early as possible. 
(9) That the homebuyer should consider re-
questing a voluntary home inspection. 
(c) MANDATORY HUD FORM.—Individuals and enti-
ties that provide housing counseling under programs au-
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thorized, certified, or funded under section 106 of the 
Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968 (12 U.S.C. 
1701x) shall be instructed to present and explain in person 
at a counseling session, to each homebuyer who is receiv-
ing such counseling, a copy of HUD Form 92564–CN, 
‘‘For Your Protection: Get a Home Inspection’’. 
(d) ADDITIONAL GUIDANCE MATERIALS.—The Sec-
retary shall develop, in consultation with national profes-
sional home inspector associations, additional guidance 
materials to educate housing counselors on how to advise 
consumers how to locate, interview, and select a profes-
sional home inspector, and on how consumers may inde-
pendently locate, interview, and select a professional home 
inspector. The Secretary shall require that these materials 
be made available to counselors providing housing coun-
seling under the programs referred to in subsection (c). 
SEC. 3. CERTIFICATION OF COUNSELORS. 
(a) PROTOCOL.—The Secretary shall, in the discre-
tion of the Secretary, develop a new independent protocol, 
or amend existing protocols, to certify that housing coun-
selors whose activities are authorized, certified, or funded 
in whole or in part under section 106 of the Housing and 
Urban Development Act of 1968 (12 U.S.C. 1701x) have 
successfully completed training using the voluntary home 
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inspection training module and counseling aids established 
and developed pursuant to section 2 of this Act. 
(b) STANDARDS FOR MATERIALS AND FORMS.—The 
Secretary shall establish standards and requirements for 
voluntary home inspection counseling materials and forms 
to be used, as appropriate, by organizations providing vol-
untary home inspection counseling. Such standards shall 
conform with the content requirements under section 2(b) 
of this Act. 
SEC. 4. HOME INSPECTION COUNSELING REQUIREMENTS. 
Each person providing counseling for a housing coun-
seling entity authorized, certified, or funded in whole or 
in part under section 106 of the Housing and Urban De-
velopment Act of 1968 (12 U.S.C. 1701x) shall be trained 
through the voluntary home inspection training module es-
tablished pursuant to section 2(a) of this Act and shall 
distribute the counseling aids to be developed under such 
section. Any homeownership counseling program required 
under, or provided in connection with, any program ad-
ministered by the Department of Housing and Urban De-
velopment shall be provided only by organizations or coun-
selors certified by the Secretary pursuant to this Act as 
competent to provide voluntary home inspection coun-
seling. The Secretary may withhold, withdraw, or suspend 
housing counseling certifications for any housing coun-
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selor or counseling entity that fails to meet the require-
ments of this Act. 
SEC. 5. PUBLIC OUTREACH. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall take such ac-
tions as may be necessary to make the existence of the 
training module and counseling aids developed under sec-
tion 2 known to State and local governments, nonprofit 
organizations, consumer organizations, and the general 
public. The Secretary shall further make the materials 
generally available for electronic access, including the 
World Wide Web, and via other means. Such public out-
reach activities shall include— 
(1) the development of a one-page, plain-lan-
guage statement in conspicuous 16-point type or 
larger, rendered at least in both English and Span-
ish versions; 
(2) the development and distribution of national 
multimedia public service announcements to be made 
available to print, broadcast, electronic, and web- 
based media outlets; 
(3) the development of an advisory statement to 
mortgage lenders advising them to provide notice of 
the availability of home inspection counseling at time 
of mortgage application; and 
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(4) the establishment, operation, and publica-
tion by the Department of Housing and Urban De-
velopment of a toll-free telephone number to receive 
requests for information on home inspection coun-
seling. 
(b) TARGETS.—The public outreach carried out 
under this section shall be designed to reach real estate 
professionals, State and local housing counseling authori-
ties, nonprofit housing organizations, employers who en-
gage in employer-assisted housing programs, community- 
based organizations with expertise in the field of housing 
counseling, and high school guidance counselors. 
(c) EMPHASIS ON VULNERABLE POPULATIONS.—In 
carrying out public outreach under this section, the Sec-
retary shall place special emphasis on reaching vulnerable 
populations, including first-time and low-income home-
buyers. 
SEC. 6. REPORT. 
Not later than the expiration of the 12-month period 
beginning upon the date of the enactment of this Act, the 
Secretary shall submit a report to the Congress describing 
the actions that have been undertaken to comply with this 
Act, disclosing the actions that are required under this 
Act but have not at such time been addressed, assessing 
the results of this Act that have been achieved at such 
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time, identifying areas for improvement in the implemen-
tation of the Act, and making recommendations to en-
hance implementation of this Act. 
Æ 
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