Home owner Darcy Zallen says she's had to spend about $40,000 so far to fix up her house.

"I had to re-finance," she said.

Zallen says she never would have made the purchase had she known the extent of a roof leak that rotted one of the walls of the home.

"Where the ceiling met the wall you could put your finger right through someone had just covered it with just some paneling," she said.

Zallen had hired a company called HighTech Home Inspection from Chilliwack. The website states the owner Danny Brown has over 10 years as an inspector and 30 years in construction.

Brown is a member of the Canadian Association of Home and Property Inspectors and sat on the CAHPI BC board of directors at the time of the inspection.

The office of HighTech Home Inspection is a house in Chilliwack with a steel box outside the home with a small notice and phone number.

CTV consumer reporter Chris Olsen went to the door to speak with Danny Brown but he says he received legal advice not to talk on camera.

So CTV called him on the phone. He said he had performed 1140 inspections.

"Out of 1140 inspections I think I've had three complaints altogether. Nobody gets out scotch free you know," he said.

He said there was nothing wrong with the inspection or the inspection report he did for Darcy Zallen.

Helene Barton, CAHPI B.C.'s registrar says CAHPI B.C. investigated and while it found Brown didn't do anything wrong when inspecting the house --it did find he violated CAHPI's Code of Ethics and did not act in good faith in his dealings with Darcy Zallen.

Danny Brown says he never spoke with Darcy in person and she was not present at the home inspection.

"They (CAHPI) felt I hadn't lived up to professional standards to try harder to contact her," he said. "They gave me a one week suspension of my license which I say I didn't agree with or anything."

"Like any profession there are mistakes made but the system is in place now to provide protection for them," Barton said.

That protection is $1 million worth of errors and omissions insurance. But you need to sue the inspector and win the case to hope to get any of that money. CAHPI can't order an inspector to make a cash settlement with a complainant.

"We don't have that kind of authority," she said. "That's why every home inspector in British Columbia now has to have insurance."

Zallen hasn't decided what to do.

Forty thousand dollars is not big enough for most lawyers to take on and too large for small claims court -- which has a limit of $25,000 -- unless she's prepared to take less.

"It's going to affect me for as long as I own this house," Zallen said.

As for compensation, the courts are the still the route you have to go, Tomorrow Olsen shows you the changes which may make it easier to sue home inspectors for oversights --and how to best choose a home inspector who'll protect your interests.

With a report from CTV British Columbia's Chris Olsen.