Termite and WDO Inspections in Florida: Transaction Step 11

If you are under contract in Winter Garden, Clermont or Davenport right now, there is a fair chance nobody has said the words “WDO inspection” to you yet — and a fair chance your lender is about to. It is the step Bella Trae Realty buyers most often meet for the first time three weeks before closing.

One housekeeping note first. Steps 8 and 9 both pointed here for the 4-point inspection and the wind mitigation report. We covered both in detail recently in our guide to 4-point and wind mitigation inspections, so rather than repeat them we are moving to the inspection that quietly derails more Central Florida closings: the WDO.

WDO Is a Wider Word Than Termite

Most buyers call it a termite inspection. Florida does not, and the difference is not pedantry. A wood-destroying organism report covers subterranean termites — including the aggressive Formosan species — drywood termites, wood-boring beetles such as powderpost beetles and the old house borer, and wood-decaying fungi.

That last category surprises people. Fungal decay is not an insect at all. In a Horizon West house that has lived with a slow shower-pan leak, the finding may have nothing to do with bugs and everything to do with rot. Same form, same inspector, same conversation with the seller — different problem entirely.

Separate Inspector, Separate License, Separate Form

The general home inspector you hired in Step 9 almost certainly cannot issue this report. Florida regulates wood-destroying organism inspections under the Structural Pest Control Act, Chapter 482 of the Florida Statutes, with the inspection itself addressed at section 482.226 and the operating detail in Rule 5E-14.142 of the Florida Administrative Code.

The work has to be done by a pest control licensee certified in Category 7 — wood-destroying organisms — or by someone working under the direct supervision of one. The output is a specific state form: FDACS Form DACS-13645, the Wood-Destroying Organism Inspection Report. If what lands in your inbox is company letterhead rather than that form, your lender will send it back. The licensee must also keep a copy on file for at least three years — which means a report issued on your Minneola house two owners ago may still be retrievable.

October Is Not Swarm Season, and That Changes Nothing

Termite activity in Florida is most visible from roughly March through June, according to UF/IFAS. Drywood termites swarm across those months, Asian subterranean termites tend to swarm in March, and Formosan subterranean termites get going in late April. We are nowhere near any of that right now.

Buyers sometimes read that calendar and conclude an October inspection is a weaker one. It is not. Swarming is the advertisement, not the infestation. What a Category 7 inspector reads is physical evidence that sits in a structure year-round: mud tubes running up a block foundation, frass piled beneath a baseboard, discarded wings in a window track, wood that gives when probed. A colony in an Ocoee garage frame does not pack up for the fall. The flip side is worth knowing too, and UF/IFAS makes the point directly — a single winged termite indoors does not automatically mean an infestation, since insects get drawn in by lights. Wings turning up in several different rooms is the signal that warrants a professional look.

Who Requires It, and Who Pays to Fix It

Florida does not require a WDO report on every sale. Your loan usually does.

• VA: Florida sits on the automatic list. A WDO report is expected before closing, full stop. VA Circular 26-22-11, issued in June 2022, confirmed that the veteran buyer is permitted to pay the inspection fee — but who pays remains negotiable, and in a good many Central Florida markets the seller still picks it up by custom.
• FHA: Generally only when the appraiser sees evidence of wood-destroying pests, or when a state or local requirement applies.
• Conventional: The lender's call. Often not required unless the appraisal flags something.
• Insurance: Separate from the loan, but carriers occasionally ask, particularly on older frame construction.

Timing is the part people get wrong. Lenders set their own freshness window and do not agree with each other — some want the report dated within about 30 days of closing, others accept one up to 90 days old. Ask your loan officer before you book. Ordering a WDO in week one of a 45-day contract and then watching the closing slip is a clean way to pay twice.

Step 5 covered the difference between the standard FR/BAR contract and the AS IS version. WDO is where that difference shows up as money.

The standard form contains a wood-destroying organism provision with a treatment limit the parties fill in. Note the phrasing: it is a blank, not a guarantee, and a limit written in at a token number protects a seller far more than it protects you.

The AS IS contract — the one most Central Florida deals run on — carries no seller repair obligation at all. The WDO question lives entirely inside your inspection period, alongside everything else from Step 8. You can ask for treatment or a credit, and sellers in ChampionsGate and St. Cloud frequently say yes, but nothing in the form compels them. Before you assume anyone owes you a tent, confirm with your agent which contract you actually signed. This is one of the first things the Bella Trae Realty team checks when a WDO report comes back with a finding.

Reading the Report Without Overreading It

The form asks a deliberately narrow set of questions: is there visible evidence of live infestation, is there visible damage, and is there evidence of previous treatment. Three boxes, and each one means something specific.

Everything hangs on “visible and accessible.” The report describes what could be seen the day it was written. It does not certify that concealed damage is absent behind drywall, under flooring or inside a wall cavity, and it is not a warranty against anything that shows up next year.

The box buyers misread most often is previous treatment. Evidence of prior treatment is usually good news: somebody found a problem and dealt with it. What you want next is the treating company's records and any transferable warranty, which is a separate document from the WDO report and does not come with it automatically. Ask for both in writing, and ask early enough that the seller has time to dig them out.

Windermere, Winter Garden, Clermont, Davenport — construction eras differ enough across our service area that no single rule of thumb survives the drive. If you are weighing a WDO finding on a specific address, contact Bella Trae Realty today and bring us the report. We will read it against your contract form, your loan type and your closing date, and tell you which of the three is actually driving your deadline.

Up Next

On Wednesday, Transaction Step 12: repair requests in an AS IS deal — what is genuinely negotiable, what is not, and how to ask in a way that gets a yes.

General education only, not legal, tax or lending advice. Confirm current requirements and figures with a licensed Florida professional.