What fixes are mandatory after a home inspection? Almost none. No law requires a seller to repair anything found by a home inspector for a private buyer. So mandatory is mostly a myth. Only the contract, the buyer’s lender, or a transfer law can force one. I’ll cover those three, then lender limits, the contract, and the money.
What fixes are mandatory after a home inspection? Almost none
Sellers treat the report like a punch list the minute it hits their inbox. I’ve sat in enough of those calls to know why the panic starts. A long list of things that fail a home inspection can read like a court order. People keep asking me what fixes are mandatory after a home inspection as if the inspector had police power. He doesn’t.
Most of the pages ranking for this question publish a list of commonly required repairs. They present it as though a list like that exists in law. Between two private parties, no such list exists. That single fact should change how you read the report: everything on it is a request until something else turns it into a duty. The seller who understands the difference stops paying for the difference.
All of this happens while the home is already under contract, inside a window that will close on you. The buyer hired the inspector, so what a home inspection costs is their line, not yours. Your job is to answer the report without giving away the sale.
The 3 things that can actually force a repair
The real answer to what fixes are mandatory after a home inspection lives in three mechanisms. I keep this list nearby, because sellers mix them up constantly.
- The contract you signed. A repair becomes a duty only when it’s written in as specific work. TREC’s promulgated Texas form tells the parties not to write general phrases like “subject to inspections.”
- The buyer’s lender. FHA and VA loans carry property conditions, and the appraiser must note every instance where a property is not safe, sound and secure. That binds the loan’s eligibility, not your duty.
- A law that attaches to the transfer itself. Rarer than the report makes it feel. Federal lead-paint law reaches every pre-1978 home in the country, and it obliges you to disclose and to allow an inspection window, not to repair.
What your buyer’s lender can and cannot make you do
A lender condition is the closest thing to a hard answer on what fixes are mandatory after a home inspection. Even that one gets misread. People hear “FHA required repair” and assume the seller just got a work order. The HUD handbook that actually governs the loan doesn’t say that.
Minimum Property Requirements mean all homes insured by FHA must be safe, sound, and secure. The appraiser must note every instance where the property is not. Those rules decide whether FHA will insure the loan. They do not create a legal duty on a home seller, and they do not touch a conventional or cash purchase at all.
The appraiser also has to limit required repairs to what’s necessary for safety, security and soundness, continued marketability, and the health and safety of occupants. Cosmetic or minor repairs are not required. The handbook is blunt about which items count as cosmetic or minor. Missing handrails that don’t pose a threat to safety. Holes in window screens, cracked window glass, and defective interior paint in housing built after 1978. And minor plumbing leaks that cause no damage, such as a dripping faucet.
One line in there is worth memorising. If an element is functioning well but hasn’t reached the end of its useful life, the appraiser should not recommend replacement because of age. I’ve used that sentence more than once, usually when a buyer wants a working water heater swapped on principle. And regardless of what the appraiser suggests, the lender decides which repairs are required.
The VA rule runs parallel. It is not a broader club: no VA loan is eligible unless the property complies with the Secretary’s standards. Read that as a statement about the loan, not an order for the seller to pick up a hammer.
Then there’s the sting the ranking pages miss. It sits in the Texas form: neither party is automatically obligated to pay for lender-required repairs. If the parties don’t agree, that form terminates the contract. The earnest money, which is the buyer’s deposit, goes back to the buyer. I’ve watched deals die on that sentence. I’ve also watched sellers use it as a reason to price a credit instead of starting a construction project.
One more limit, because sellers keep treating the FHA appraisal like a second inspection. The FHA appraiser does not guarantee the property is free from defects. The appraisal establishes value for mortgage insurance purposes only. FHA and the lender are the intended users of that report, not you and not the buyer.
Disclosure is not repair, and sellers keep confusing the two
Sellers mix up “I have to tell you” with “I have to fix it.” Then they file the answer under what fixes are mandatory after a home inspection. Lead paint is where I see it most. Federal lead-paint law is a genuine, nationwide seller obligation that is still not a repair obligation.
Federal law requires a pamphlet, disclosure of known lead-based paint and hazards, and a 10-day inspection window before the buyer signs. You hand over all available records and reports on lead-based paint in the house. A Lead Warning Statement goes with the deal, explaining that lead from paint can pose health hazards if not managed properly. The parties may agree in writing to lengthen or shorten the 10-day period, and homebuyers may waive that inspection opportunity outright. Keep a signed copy for three years after the sale closes.
The rule makes the seller tell, not fix. A state seller-disclosure statute works the same way: you disclose what you know. Answering that form honestly is a separate duty from agreeing to a repair. Conflating the two is how sellers talk themselves into work nobody asked them to do.
What the contract actually says about repairs
Your contract is the document that settles what fixes are mandatory after a home inspection. So it’s worth reading one closely. The Texas promulgated form is the worked example below. That label matters. Other states write these forms differently, and the paragraph numbers will not match. Pennsylvania’s contract and disclosure rules are their own animal. The architecture is broadly the same from state to state, in my experience. But the paper that binds you is the paper you signed.
“As Is” on that Texas form means the present condition of the property with any and all defects. Under that clause there is no warranty except the warranties of title and the warranties in the contract. Accepting as-is still lets the buyer inspect, negotiate repairs in a later amendment, or terminate during the option period. That option period is the paid window where a buyer can walk for any reason or none. So the as-is box, on its own, settles nothing until someone writes a specific repair into an amendment.
The other box requires the seller to complete specific named repairs at the seller’s expense. The form’s own instruction is not to write general phrases such as “subject to inspections.” Those phrases fail to identify specific repairs and treatments. Agreed work has to be finished before the closing date, with any required permits. The people doing it have to be licensed.
That form also caps lender repairs: the buyer may terminate if lender-required repairs exceed 5% of the sales price. On the July 2026 national median of $434,100, that ceiling would be $21,705. Don’t export the 5% to another state’s form. Go find the equivalent clause in yours.
What fixes are mandatory after a home inspection when negotiating power shifts
Negotiating power shows up in the waiver rate, not in how loud the buyer’s agent sounds on the phone. Sixteen percent of buyers waived the inspection contingency, down from 20% a month earlier and 23% a year ago. More buyers are keeping the right to walk, and that’s the number I watch first. Homes received an average of 2.0 offers, and 19% sold above list price.
In the same survey, 6% of contracts were terminated in the last three months and 12% had delayed settlements. Contracts typically closed in 30 days. Those termination and delay figures cover every cause, not inspection disputes specifically, so read them as weather rather than as a repair statistic. The point stands anyway. A falling waiver rate means the question of what fixes are mandatory after a home inspection carries more weight than it did last year. And the seller who treats every line on the report as equally negotiable loses.
Here’s how I’d sort the report the day it arrives. Put each line in a bucket before anyone drafts a response.
- What a lender will actually condition on, which is a shorter list than the report implies
- Items that genuinely threaten the buyer’s financing or the occupants’ safety
- Deferred maintenance, the stuff that is real and still not a closing problem
Then price the concession as a credit instead of granting repairs you have to project-manage before the closing date. Keep the response inside the contractual window, even if the buyer’s agent is pushing for a faster yes. I’ve seen sellers win the dollar argument and still lose the week, because a contractor couldn’t get on the calendar.
The money: what a conceded repair really costs a seller
Put the repair next to the commission, because they come out of the same proceeds. The July 2026 national median sale price for existing homes was $434,100. The listing-side math below is illustrative arithmetic on that median, not a local price. For how those percentages actually get paid, read our explainer on how realtors get paid.
| Fee on a $434,100 sale | Dollar cost |
|---|---|
| 6% total commission | $26,046 |
| 3% listing side | $13,023 |
| 2% listing side | $8,682 |
| 1% listing side | $4,341 |
Now the part I’d rather not write. Houwzer’s low commission listing agents advertise a 1% listing fee. Our own page says clients save an average of $12,000 on fees. Run that against the median. At $434,100, moving the listing side from 3% to 1% takes $13,023 down to $4,341. The saving is $8,682, not $12,000, which is $3,318 short of the number on our own marketing. That $12,000 average reflects higher-priced markets, not the median home. A seller at the median should plan on the smaller figure.
Which is exactly why the repair column matters. A $4,000 credit conceded in one email eats 46% of that $8,682, close to half. The commission line is the easy saving. Working out what fixes are mandatory after a home inspection is the hard one. A low listing fee is worth nothing without a fast, accurate read on lender conditions. Judge a listing agent on that answer, not on the fee.
So when the report lands, don’t fire off a yes to the first repair request. Send the PDF to your listing agent with one question on top: which of these can a lender actually condition on? Wait for that answer before you concede a dollar. Even if the buyer’s agent wants a same-day reply. The agreeable first email is usually the expensive one.
Questions I get after the report lands
Do I have to fix everything on a home inspection report?
No. The honest answer to what fixes are mandatory after a home inspection is: the items you agreed to in writing, plus any lender condition you choose to accept, plus the rare transfer law that actually binds you. The rest is a request. I’ve seen long reports produce no repairs and a small credit, and I’ve seen a short report blow up a sale, so the length of the report tells you nothing about your obligation.
What are sellers required to fix after an inspection?
Sellers are required to fix what the contract says they’ll fix. On what fixes are mandatory after a home inspection, that’s the whole honest answer. A buyer’s inspector cannot create a duty that the contract, the lender, or a transfer law did not already create. Lead paint is the example people get backwards: you disclose, you allow a 10-day window, and you don’t have to abate anything. If your listing agent can’t draw that line in one conversation, you’re interviewing the wrong agent.
Who pays for repairs after a home inspection?
Whoever agrees to pay. It isn’t a satisfying sentence, and it’s still the law of the deal. In the Texas form, neither party is obligated to pay for lender-required repairs unless they agree in writing, while agreed named repairs sit on the seller. Your state’s form may split it differently. And don’t confuse the cost of the report with the cost of the work, because the inspection itself is the buyer’s hire.
Can a buyer back out if the seller refuses to make repairs?
Often yes, if they’re still inside an option period or another contractual walk window. A refusal isn’t a federal event, but it can still end the contract. In the Texas form, disagreement over who pays lender-required repairs terminates the contract and refunds the earnest money to the buyer, and the buyer may also terminate if those lender repairs exceed 5% of the sales price. Read your walk rights before you refuse anything.
Do lender-required repairs have to be done before closing?
Agreed lender repairs have to be finished before closing, at least on the Texas form, with any required permits and by licensed people. That’s a bigger scheduling problem than sellers expect. If you never agreed, there’s nothing to complete, and the contract may terminate instead. One caution worth repeating: conventional and cash purchases do not inherit FHA’s property conditions, so never let an FHA repair list get attached to a deal that isn’t an FHA loan.
Who verifies repairs after a home inspection?
Nobody official, which surprises people who assumed an inspector signs off on what fixes are mandatory after a home inspection. On the Texas form the seller has to complete agreed work before closing, with permits, using licensed people, but the buyer is the one who has to confirm it actually happened. I treat the final walk-through as a checkpoint rather than a courtesy tour. Your agent should be asking for invoices and permit sign-offs, not a text that says “done.”
