Notice2026-19881
National Standards for the Physical Inspection of Real Estate: Scoring Notice
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
September 29, 2026
Issuing agencies
Housing and Urban Development Department
Abstract
This notice seeks public comment on revisions to the NSPIRE Scoring Notice, "National Standards for the Physical Inspection of Real Estate and Associated Protocols, Scoring Notice". Pursuant to the governing regulation, which requires periodic revision of the NSPIRE Scoring Notice and an opportunity for public comment, HUD is providing an opportunity for public comment on the revisions to the scoring procedures set forth in this notice. HUD will consider comments received in response to this notice before publishing a final NSPIRE Scoring Notice in the Federal Register and posting the updated NSPIRE Scoring Notice on www.hud.gov.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 187 (Tuesday, September 29, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 187 (Tuesday, September 29, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 61432-61434]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-19881]
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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT
[Docket No. FR-6086-N-13]
National Standards for the Physical Inspection of Real Estate:
Scoring Notice
AGENCY: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Housing--Federal Housing
Commissioner, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian
Housing (PIH), HUD.
ACTION: Request for public comment.
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SUMMARY: This notice seeks public comment on revisions to the NSPIRE
Scoring Notice, ``National Standards for the Physical Inspection of
Real Estate and Associated Protocols, Scoring Notice''. Pursuant to the
governing regulation, which requires periodic revision of the NSPIRE
Scoring Notice and an opportunity for public comment, HUD is providing
an opportunity for public comment on the revisions to the scoring
procedures set forth in this notice. HUD will consider comments
received in response to this notice before publishing a final NSPIRE
Scoring Notice in the Federal Register and posting the updated NSPIRE
Scoring Notice on <a href="http://www.hud.gov">www.hud.gov</a>.
DATES: Comments Due: November 30, 2026.
ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments responsive
to this notice. Communications should refer to the above docket number
and title. There are two methods for submitting public comments.
1. Electronic Submission of Comments. Comments may be submitted
electronically through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>. HUD strongly encourages commenters to submit
comments electronically. Electronic submission of comments allows the
commenter maximum time to prepare and submit a comment, ensures timely
receipt by HUD, and enables HUD to make comments immediately available
to the public. Comments submitted electronically through the website
can be viewed by other commenters and interested members of the public.
Commenters should follow instructions provided on that site to submit
comments electronically.
2. Submission of Comments by Mail. Comments may also be submitted
by mail to the Regulations Division, Office of General Counsel,
Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 7th Street SW, Room
10276, Washington, DC 20410-0500. Due to security measures at all
Federal agencies, submission of comments by mail often results in
delayed delivery. To ensure timely receipt, HUD recommends that
comments be mailed at least 2 weeks in advance of the public comment
deadline.
Note: To receive consideration as public comments, comments
must be submitted using one of the two methods specified above.
No Facsimile Comments. Facsimile (fax) comments are not acceptable.
3. Public Inspection of Comments. All comments and communications
submitted to HUD will be available for public inspection and copying
between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET on weekdays at the above address. Due to
security measures at HUD Headquarters, an advance appointment to review
the public comments must be scheduled by calling the Regulations
Division at (202) 708-3055. This is not a toll-free number. Copies of
all comments submitted are available for inspection and downloading at
<a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dakisha Spratling, Real Estate
Assessment Center, Office of Public and Indian Housing, Department of
Housing and Urban Development, 550 12th Street SW, Suite 100,
Washington, DC 20410-4000, telephone number (202) 402-7146 (this is not
a toll-free number). HUD welcomes and is prepared to receive calls from
individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing, as well as individuals
with speech or communication disabilities. To learn more about how to
make an accessible telephone call, please visit: <a href="https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/telecommunications-relay-service-trs">https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/telecommunications-relay-service-trs</a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. NSPIRE Rule
On May 11, 2023, HUD published the final rule, ``Economic Growth
Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act: Implementation of
National Standards for the Physical Inspection of Real Estate'' (88 FR
30442), to align expectations of housing quality and consolidate
inspection standards across HUD programs.
24 CFR 5.709(a) states that HUD will publish a notice establishing
NSPIRE scoring methodology to score and rank HUD housing. 24 CFR
5.709(a)(1) further establishes that HUD will subsequently publish in
the Federal Register for a public comment period of not less than 30
days, any revisions to the inspection and scoring procedures that HUD
determines to be necessary, at least once every 3 years or 3 years
after the most recent revision, whichever is later. The revision
process provides an opportunity for the public to examine proposed
changes to the scoring procedure, share pertinent comments, and suggest
the inclusion of industry best practices. A 3-year revision cycle
allows HUD to be more responsive to the ever-changing public and
assisted housing portfolio and research findings in the field.
[[Page 61433]]
II. NSPIRE Scoring Background
On July 7, 2023, HUD published the final NSPIRE Scoring Notice,
``National Standards for the Physical Inspection of Real Estate and
Associated Protocols, Scoring Notice'' (88 FR 43371), effective July 1,
2023. The NSPIRE Scoring Notice establishes the methodology for
weighing deficiencies identified during inspections conducted under the
NSPIRE Standards and for scoring those deficiencies for each program.
The Scoring Notice also establishes the gradations and severity levels
applicable to each deficiency under the scoring methodology, as well as
the compliance date for the new affirmative requirements for HUD
housing subject to NSPIRE.
The NSPIRE Scoring Notice does not apply to the Housing Choice
Voucher and Project-Based Voucher programs and does not revise the
inspection frequencies established under the applicable program
regulations.
III. Proposed Revisions to the NSPIRE Scoring Notice
This notice sets forth three revisions to the NSPIRE Scoring Notice
for public comment. As discussed below, each revision was previously
published in a separate notice.
Revised Compliance Date for NSPIRE New Affirmative Requirements
This first revision to the NSPIRE Scoring Notice addresses the
compliance date for the new affirmative requirements in NSPIRE
standards. These affirmative requirements include: Fire Labeled Doors;
Electrical--Ground-Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI) outlet or breaker;
Guardrail; Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC); Interior
Lighting; and Minimum Electrical and Lighting (see the full list in
Section III of Notice PIH 2025-27/H 2025-06). For detailed descriptions
of each category of new affirmative requirements and the associated
defects, refer to Section IV.D of the NSPIRE Scoring Notice.
The affirmative requirements are property attributes or
requirements that must be met. When a property does not meet these
requirements, it constitutes a defect in the inspection and may result
in point deductions from the property's score. The NSPIRE Scoring
Notice provided properties with a 12-month period before scoring the
new affirmative requirements. On December 17, 2024, HUD issued a notice
extending the period before scoring the new affirmative requirements to
October 1, 2025. (Notice PIH 2024-39/H 2024-11). On September 30, 2025,
HUD extended the date on which it will begin scoring the new
affirmative requirements to October 1, 2026, to provide stakeholders
additional time to comply (Notice PIH 2025-27/H 2025-06). Beginning
October 1, 2026, deficiencies identified under the new affirmative
requirements will be included in the calculation of a property's
inspection score. The extension applies to inspections conducted in the
Public Housing and Multifamily Housing portfolios.
Sample Size Correction
The second revision to the NSPIRE Scoring Notice concerns a
correction to the sample size. In reviewing the published notice, HUD
identified two inadvertent errors in Table 9, Section V, titled,
``Number of Units Sampled Under NSPIRE Scoring and Sampling Methodology
Based on Property Size.'' HUD corrected those errors in correction
notice ``National Standards for the Physical Inspection of Real Estate
and Associated Protocols, Scoring Notice; Correction'' (90 FR 5973)
published in the Federal Register on January 17, 2025. Specifically,
the entries for the following two rows listing the number of units in a
property were incorrect:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
UPCS NSPIRE
Units in property sample sample
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111-132............................................... 22-23 26
133-166............................................... 23-24 27
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HUD is correcting these errors so that these rows read as follows:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
UPCS NSPIRE
Units in property sample sample
------------------------------------------------------------------------
111-133............................................... 22-23 26
134-166............................................... 23-24 27
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The UPCS (Uniform Physical Condition Standards) and NSPIRE sample
sizes remain unchanged.
For clarity, the corrected Table 9, in its entirety is as follows:
Table 9--Number of Units Sampled Under NSPIRE Scoring and Sampling
Methodology Based on Property Size
------------------------------------------------------------------------
UPCS NSPIRE
Units in property sample sample
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1..................................................... 1 1
2..................................................... 2 2
3..................................................... 3 3
4..................................................... 4 4
5..................................................... 5 5
6..................................................... 5 6
7..................................................... 6 6
8..................................................... 7 7
9..................................................... 7 8
10.................................................... 8 8
11-12................................................. 8 9
13-14................................................. 9 10
15-16................................................. 10 11
17-18................................................. 11 12
19-21................................................. 12 13
22-24................................................. 13 14
25-27................................................. 14 15
28-30................................................. 14 16
31-35................................................. 15 17
36-39................................................. 16 18
40-45................................................. 17 19
46-51................................................. 18 20
52-59................................................. 18 21
60-67................................................. 19 22
68-78................................................. 20 23
79-92................................................. 21 24
93-110................................................ 21-22 25
111-133............................................... 22-23 26
134-166............................................... 23-24 27
167-214............................................... 24-25 28
215-295............................................... 25 29
296-455............................................... 25-26 30
456-920............................................... 26 31
921+.................................................. 27 32
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The final revision concerns two corrections under Example 2,
titled: ``Example 2: A Property Where HUD Inspects 10 Units and the
Unit Defect Deduction Value is Above 30''. The Defect Deduction Value
Per Unit is listed incorrectly as 39.6 when it should be 37.6 as
calculated in the following paragraph. Similarly, the Total Defect
Deduction Value per Unit (Inspectable Area) is incorrectly entered as
379; this figure should be 310.2 as indicated correctly in the
preceding paragraph.
IV. Final NSPIRE Scoring Notice
The current version of the NSPIRE Scoring Notice can be found on
the HUD website and Federal Register.\1\ HUD seeks comments on the
three revisions to the scoring procedures for this public comment
period.
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\1\ The published NSPIRE Scoring Notice can be accessed on
Federal Register website at the following link: <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/07/07/2023-14362/national-standards-for-the-physical-inspection-of-real-estate-and-associated-protocols-scoring">https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/07/07/2023-14362/national-standards-for-the-physical-inspection-of-real-estate-and-associated-protocols-scoring</a>.
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HUD will respond to the comments received and take them into
consideration as the final revisions to the proposed NSPIRE Scoring
Notice are completed. If HUD makes changes to the published revisions,
the final version of the NSPIRE Scoring Notice will be published in the
Federal Register. HUD will also publish the final NSPIRE Scoring Notice
at: <a href="https://www.hud.gov/reac/nspire">https://www.hud.gov/reac/nspire</a>.
[[Page 61434]]
V. Environmental Review
This Notice provides operating instructions and procedures in
connection with activities under a Federal Register document,
``Economic Growth Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act:
Implementation of National Standards for the Physical Inspection of
Real Estate'' (88 FR 30442), that has previously been subject to a
required environmental review. Accordingly, pursuant to 24 CFR
50.19(c)(4), this Notice is categorically excluded from environmental
review under the National Environmental Policy Act (42 U.S.C. 4321, et
seq.).
Benjamin Hobbs,
Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing
Joseph M. Gormley,
President of the Government National Mortgage Association performing
the delegable duties of the Assistant Secretary for Housing--Federal
Housing Commissioner.
[FR Doc. 2026-19881 Filed 9-28-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210-67-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on September 29, 2026.
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