A quick browse of this website will highlight that the Home Report comprises three documents: an Energy Performance Certificate, a Property Questionnaire and a Single Survey, which includes an assessment of the property value.
At Home Report Company and as a chartered surveyor, my colleagues and I are among professional surveyors registered with or authorised to practise by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) who can legally produce Single Surveys.
Unfortunately, for some buyers and sellers in the residential property marketplace, there still remains confusion regarding what must be contained within the Home Report and in particular if there’s a need for the seller to conduct a separate property valuation.
So let’s briefly take a step back to consider how the Home Report is set out in legislation and then seek to offer greater clarity around the occasionally contentious issue of valuation.
Legislation
The Home Report is designed to support the process of buying and selling residential property in Scotland and was introduced by the Scottish Government in 2008. It falls within the legislation of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006.
As its own documentation highlights, the Government’s decision to introduce the Home Report reflected its aim to: provide better information about the condition of properties to sellers and buyers before offers are placed – and to give sellers an incentive to carry out repairs before marketing their properties; address the problem of multiple surveys and valuations being carried out; address the problem of artificially low asking prices being set.’
Development of the Home Report was informed by the Home Report Implementation Group (HRIG), which included representatives from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, the Law Society of Scotland and the Council of Mortgage Lenders.
Property valuation
Unsurprisingly, as a homeowner wishing to sell your property, a fundamental point is to know how much your property is worth. You can read elsewhere on this website, how the Single Survey element of the Home Report gives both buyer and seller a detailed report on the structural condition and potential valuation of a property. If you are a seller, it also gives you an indication of a viable asking price for your home while from a buyer’s perspective it can inform decision-making before potentially submitting an offer.
However, it’s very important to be clear that as the property seller you are not also legally required to undertake a Mortgage Valuation Report (MVR) to sell your property – and it’s not a part of the Home Report.
Of course, for reasons including inheritance and tax planning you may still wish to commission the likes of Home Report Company to independently and professionally undertake a property valuation – also known as a Private Valuation Report. I stress again that this is a distinctly separate report from the Home Report.
A Private Valuation Report doesn’t give any detail regarding the structure of the property and is solely focused on your property’s likely market value at the time of being assessed by the surveyor.
Unfortunately, some sellers can be under the impression that in order to sell their property they need an MVR. This is not the case and as a RICS chartered surveyor, my professional advice to any seller is to think very carefully before opting to pay a higher price than necessary for a Home Report simply because it includes a Mortgage Valuation Report.
However, buyers take note. Invariably, your solicitor and as part of the purchasing process will instruct a RICS-qualified surveyor on the lenders ‘panel’ to conduct a valuation of the property you hope to purchase. This valuation, usually conducted within 30 minutes and 2-3 pages in length – is for the purpose of satisfying the lender – eg the bank – that a fair price is being offered to buy the property.
So let’s conclude with potentially the most vexing element of the Home Report and Property Valuation equation. Unfortunately, the sticking point for some sellers is when a bank – the lender of the mortgage funds to the potential buyer of your property – stipulates that it will only accept a Home Report and property valuation conducted by a professional who is on its panel of surveyors!
This stipulation can prove extremely frustrating for the seller as it’s essentially a non-legally binding request by the lender. It’s not legally enforceable yet as they are the gate-keeper of the required finance to purchase a property, they can still refuse to accept an independent property valuation conducted by a fully qualified (RICS) surveyor on behalf of the seller.
Needless to say, as a RICS-qualified chartered surveyor who is proud of the independent and professional advice offered by Home Report Company, this current state of affairs is highly frustrating.
I firmly believe that a further review of the seller / buyer transactional process is required to address this current shortcoming in the system. In the interim, I hope the above provides further clarity and reassures you as a potential property seller or buyer that Home Report Company is firmly committed to providing the very best impartial, independent and professional advice.
