Don't Go Round The Houses

What Is It? - WHAT SELLERS NEED TO KNOW

The Home Report is a document that is required to be produced in line with recent legislative changes in the buying and selling of private homes in Scotland. It has been specifically introduced to give potential buyers more up-front and useful information about a property that they may be considering buying and consequently helps you, the seller, to sell your home by removing any doubt or uncertainty in the potential purchaser’s mind. It also does away with the need for every interested party to have an individual survey of the property in question undertaken.

The Home Report must be arranged and paid-for by you, the seller, before your home is put on the market. It should then be subsequently given to anyone interested in buying your property by you or your estate agent.

Details of the document-pack format and sample of a completed Home Report can be downloaded at the end of this section so that you know what it looks like.

Due to the high level of professionalism and experience required in the process of producing a satisfactory Home Report, by law, the information for inclusion in the document pack can only be compiled by a surveyor who is a member of RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors).

WHAT DOES IT CONSIST OF?

There’s three parts to the Home Report:-

1. Firstly, there is the Single Survey and Valuation, which details, on a graded scale, the structural condition of the property as assessed by the RICS surveyor. This condition grading clearly enables potential buyers to have an informed view on the property and can encouragingly reassure them on the condition of the property or lets them know of any potential problems that may need to be urgently addressed. The suitability of disabled access is also identified in this section. Additionally, this part of the Home Report provides the surveyor’s professional opinion of the current market value of the property together with its insurance assessment.
2. Next, your RICS surveyor will produce an Energy Report based on his or her’s professional assessment of how energy-efficient your home is rated on a scale of A to G. An Energy Performance Certificate will be completed and this will be included in your Home Report to let potential buyers know exactly how “green” your property is and also lets them know what needs to be done to improve the energy-efficient rating.
3. Finally, you, the seller, will need to complete a Property Questionnaire which will let potential buyers know such things as who  are your current utility suppliers, what the parking situation is like around your property, the installation of satellite or cable TV in your home, your council-tax band and other information like this that prospective purchasers will find helpful.

Although not legally required within the Home Report but as an additional help to you in selling your property, you can ask your RICS surveyor to provide you with a generic Mortgage Valuation Report to be included in the Home Report pack. This Mortgage Valuation Report would enable someone who wants to buy your home to approach a mortgage lender with a view to securing a mortgage on your property, making it easier for them to buy and easier for you to sell.

AN AT-A-GLANCE SUMMARY

• By law, a Home Report must be undertaken and completed by a surveyor who is a member of RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors)
• A list of RICS surveyors local to you can be found within this website and you can make contact with your preferred choice by phone, in person, in writing or in some instances, online
• The Home Report consists of THREE Parts :- Single Survey and Valuation, an Energy Report, and a Property Questionnaire
• You are required by law to have a Home Report undertaken and completed BEFORE you put your home on the market
• It will take an average of one to two weeks for the RICS surveyor to send you the completed Home Report
• The cost of commissioning a Home Report from an RICS surveyor is borne by you, the home seller
• A copy of the completed Home Report should be given to all interested home purchasers by the home owner or estate agent
• Although not a legal requirement, you can ask your RICS surveyor to provide you with a generic Mortgage Valuation Report as an additional part of the Home Report which may assist interested purchasers in securing a mortgage on your property.