In Miller Desjardins v. JF Lajoie Construction Inc. et al, 2025 ONSC 2522, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, through Judge Flaherty considered a home inspection report:
[23] I find that there is no contract between the Plaintiffs and Mr. Lajoie. The Plaintiffs’ realtor arranged for and paid Mr. Lajoie for the inspection.The Plaintiffs themselves provided no consideration for the inspection and inspection report.
Neither the realtor nor the Plaintiffs signed an inspection contract with Mr. Lajoie.
[24] The fact that Mr. Lajoie’s report was addressed and provided to the Plaintiffs does not create a contract in the absence of the requisite legal elements, including consideration.The Plaintiffs argue that had the realtor not paid Mr. Lajoie’s invoice, they would have been required to do so.
However, this speculation that the Plaintiffs had a secondary obligation to pay Mr. Lajoie’s invoice does not establish consideration.
[25] As there was no contract between the parties, there can have been no breach of contract.COMMENT
In this case the Buyer’s agent stepped forward:
- Ordered the report, and
- Paid $425.00 for the report
So, going forward:
The agent should make it clear that there is a contract between the Buyers and the Home Inspector
Make it clear that they are paying (not for themselves) but on behalf of the Buyers.
Naturally, the Report is to be addressed to the Buyers and to be delivered directly to the Buyers. The agent can receive a copy of the report for review and discussion purposes.
In this case it was never addressed in evidence that the agent may have ordered the report on behalf of the Buyers. That would be “agency”, and then we would have a direct contract between the Home Inspector and the Buyers.
Also, they never considered the issue of “assignment”. The Buyers’ agent could have simply assigned the home inspection contract to the Buyers, but again, that didn’t happen.
The conclusion here is that there was no contract, no consideration evidencing the contract and consequently, no right to sue under contract.
Brian Madigan LL.B., Broker