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Mass. homebuyers can no longer waive inspections. Here’s what to know.

Effective Oct. 15, waived inspections will be a thing of the past.

A for sale sign stands outside a home. AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File

October 16, 2025

1 minute to read

For years, Massachusetts homebuyers in the state’s hyper-competitive real estate market felt pressured to waive home inspections to make their offers more appealing.

As of Oct. 15, new state regulations ban homeowners and realtors from selling a property on the condition that they waive the inspection and prohibit buyers from offering to waive the inspection to get ahead of the competition.

Lawmakers finalized the rules in June as part of the Affordable Homes Act.

In recent years, the Healey administration has said that homebuyers are “too often” pressured to choose not to have a home inspection to be competitive.

However, the administration says home inspections are critical in helping buyers uncover potential issues, avoid unexpected expenses, and negotiate a fair price for a home.

“A home inspection is an important step in buying a property,” Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities Secretary Ed Augustus said in a statement in June. “Homebuyers must have the ability to make informed financial decisions and be given a clear picture of needed repairs or safety issues that could arise.”

What the new law means:

Sellers cannot require buyers to skip an inspection.
Offers cannot be contingent on waived inspections.
Buyers can waive an inspection, but sellers and agents cannot influence the decision.
Sellers must provide a signed disclosure outlining the buyer’s inspection rights.
Exemptions: new homes with a one-year warranty, sales between family members, or sales through a trust.
Rules apply to purchase agreements signed on or after Oct. 15.

However, all of these new regulations may be largely moot. Sarah Gustafson, the president of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors, told WBUR that homebuyers were waiving inspections at a “high rate” when the housing market was at its hottest a few years ago.

But, as home sales have cooled off recently (even though prices continue to climb), so too has the rate of waived inspections, she said.

“The market has actually already begun to self-correct for this regulation on its own,” Gustafson told WBUR.