Home Reports – Should Scotland Scrap Them?
Are Home Reports here to stay or should Scotland follow the rest of Britain and scrap them? …..
There are grumblings amongst MSP’s. The Scottish Tories want them scrapped. David McLetchie MSP, Scottish Conservative Chief Whip, said: “In the best of times, Home Reports were an expensive luxury. However, nowadays figures showing that the housing market is struggling to return to where it was a couple of years ago they are madness”
Why have Home Reports?
The single survey for the Home Report was intended to be:
- an assessment by the Surveyor of the condition of your home,
- a valuation
- easily accessible for people with particular needs.
Is this fair and a real value of your property?
The introduction of Home Reports was to abolish multiple surveys. However, a recent encounter with a seller found that the Surveyor who completed the Report based his opinion of the price a similar flat sold for across the road. The seller found this unfair, as she knew that the “house across the road” was sold at a reduced price as that seller wanted a very quick sale. The Surveyor’s value price was approximately £25,000 less than what they had paid for it 4 years earlier!
How Were Homes Previously Valued?
The old multiple survey system sometimes involved the Surveyor valuing a property based on what the “average” price of properties of a similar size and condition had sold for.
The question of finding an average brings its own problems. What is “average”? If a similar property a mile down the road sold for a much higher price, should this “average” be used by the Surveyor?
In a sluggish market Home Reports can be seen as simply a further expense to the seller and their worth is limited. �
What do you think?
Are Home Reports an unnecessary expense in Scotland? Would abolishing them deliver the much needed boost to the housing market? Let us know what you think by taking a moment to vote in our latest poll ( see right hand side of this page).
If you’re looking for legal advice in relation to a forthcoming sale or purchase, please contact one of our team.
Perhaps the question in the poll should be around whether HR should stay as it is, be scrapped or be changed. At a basic level there is a positive in having more information accessible upfront on the condition of the property. The question is around how you make that information acceptable at all points in the selling process and deal with the fact that the information becomes dated. Consumer groups were very much in favour of the introduction of Home Reports. Perhaps it is time for them to check with the group they represent to see if the ideal of having more information up front is something consumers are willing to pay for. ESPC recently conducted some research into Home Report valuations and how close they are to the price achieved. This can be found at: http://beta.espc.com/news-events/news/list-of-news-articles/home-report-valuation-report
If the information they provide is largely duplicated during the conveyancing process, they are not worth the damage they do to a dynamic market.
Following England in anything ‘they do, is the biggest reason most have, to not dropping them!
Put it this way. I am not prepared to pay £400.00 for a Home report just to discover there are no buyers around. Total waste of money. I’d rather sell than rent but I’m not paying for a home report. Surely a property is worth what someone is prepared to pay for it.