Virginia Administrative Code › Title 18 - PROFESSIONAL AND OCCUPATIONAL LICENSING › Agency 15 - VIRGINIA BOARD FOR ASBESTOS, LEAD, AND HOME INSPECTORS › Chapter 40 - HOME INSPECTOR LICENSING REGULATIONS › Part I - General › Section 18VAC15-40-10 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 40, No. 24, July 15, 2024
A. Section
				  54.1-500 of the Code of Virginia
				  provides definitions of the following terms and phrases as used in this
				  chapter:
"Board"
"Home inspection"
"Home inspector"
"Person"
"Residential building"
B. Section
				  54.1-517.2:1 of the Code of
				  Virginia provides definitions of the following terms and phrases as used in
				  18VAC15-40-130:
"Bonding"
"Corrugated stainless steel tubing"
"Grounding"
C. The following words and terms when used in
				  this chapter shall have the following meanings unless a different meaning is
				  provided or is plainly required by the context:
"Address of record" means the mailing address designated by
					 the licensee to receive notices and correspondence from the board.
"Adjacent" means adjoining or within three feet of the
					 residential building and that may affect the residential building.
"Applicant" means an individual who has submitted an
					 application for licensure.
"Application" means a completed, board-prescribed form
					 submitted with the appropriate fee and other required documentation.
"Client" means a person who engages the services of a home
					 inspector for a home inspection.
"Compensation" means the receipt of monetary payment or
					 other valuable consideration for services rendered.
"Component" means a part of a system.
"Contact hour" means 50 minutes of participation in a
					 structured training activity.
"CPE" means continuing professional education.
"Department" means the Department of Professional and
					 Occupational Regulation.
"Financial interest" means financial benefit accruing to an
					 individual or to a member of an individual's immediate family. Such interest
					 shall exist by reason of (i) ownership in a business if the ownership exceeds
					 3.0% of the total equity of the business; (ii) annual gross income that exceeds
					 or may be reasonably anticipated to exceed $1,000 from ownership in real or
					 personal property or a business; (iii) salary, other compensation, fringe
					 benefits, forgiveness of debt, or benefits from the use of property, or any
					 combination of it, paid or provided by a business that exceeds or may be
					 reasonably expected to exceed $1,000 annually; (iv) ownership of real or
					 personal property if the interest exceeds $1,000 in value and excluding
					 ownership in business, income, salary, other compensation, fringe benefits, or
					 benefits from the use of property; (v) personal liability incurred or assumed
					 on behalf of a business if the liability exceeds 3.0% of the asset value of the
					 business; or (vi) an option for ownership of a business, real property, or
					 personal property if the ownership interest will consist of clause (i) or (iv)
					 of this definition.
"Fireplace" means an interior fire-resistant masonry
					 permanent or prefabricated fixture that can be used to burn fuel and is either
					 vented or unvented.
"Foundation" means the element of a structure that connects
					 to the ground and transfers loads from the structure to the ground. Foundations
					 may be shallow or deep.
"Good working order" means, with respect to a smoke alarm
					 inspected during a home inspection, that the smoke alarm is securely attached,
					 not physically damaged, and operation of the test function is
					 successful.
"Licensee" means a home inspector as defined in Chapter 5
					 (§
											54.1-500 et seq.) of Title 54.1
					 of the Code of Virginia.
"Licensure" means a method of regulation whereby the
					 Commonwealth, through the issuance of a license, authorizes a person possessing
					 the character and minimum skills to engage in the practice of a profession or
					 occupation that is unlawful to practice without such license.
"New residential structure" or "NRS" means a residential
					 structure for which the first conveyance of record title to a purchaser has not
					 occurred or the purchaser has not taken possession, whichever occurs
					 later.
"NRS specialty" means a designation granted by the board to
					 a home inspector that authorizes such individual to conduct home inspections on
					 any new residential structure.
"Outbuilding" means any structure on the property that is
					 more than three feet from the residential building and that may affect the
					 residential building.
"Prelicense education course" means an instruction program
					 approved by the board and is one of the requirements for licensure effective
					 July 1, 2017.
"Readily accessible" means available for access without
					 requiring moving or removing of any obstacles.
"Reinstatement" means the process and requirements through
					 which an expired license can be made valid without the licensee having to apply
					 as a new applicant.
"Renewal" means the process and requirements for
					 periodically approving the continuance of a license.
"Residential structure" means a structure consisting of no
					 more than two dwelling units or a townhouse.
"Smoke alarm" means
(i) a single station or multiple station
				  alarm responsive to smoke; or
(ii) a
				  "smoke detector" as used in Chapter 398 of the 2022 Acts of Assembly.
"Solid fuel burning appliances" means a hearth and fire
					 chamber or similarly prepared place in which a fire may be built and that is
					 built in conjunction with a chimney, or a listed assembly of a fire chamber,
					 its chimney, and related factory-made parts designed for unit assembly without
					 requiring field construction.
"System" means a combination of interacting or
					 interdependent components, assembled to carry out one or more functions.
"Virginia Residential Code" means the provisions of the
					 Virginia Construction Code (Part I (13VAC5-63-10 et seq.) of
					 13VAC5-63) applicable to R-5 residential structures and that includes
					 provisions of the International Residential Code as amended by the Board of
					 Housing and Community Development.