Are Home Reports here to stay or should Scotland scrap Home Reports?

There are grumblings amongst MSPs. 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?

If you're looking for legal advice in relation to a forthcoming sale or purchase, please contact one of our team.