In Scotland, all sellers must commission a Home Report to provide to prospective buyers when they put their residential property on the market. The Home Report is designed to provide potential buyers with more information about a property they are thinking of buying prior to them submitting an offer and includes three separate documents: the Single Survey, the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) and the Property Questionnaire.
- The Single Survey – this is a detailed survey carried out by a qualified and RICS regulated surveyor. The survey documents the condition of each aspect of the property within the report, broken down into 3 categories and detailing whether urgent repairs are required (for example a gas leak), repair or replacement requires future attention, or whether no immediate action is required.
- The EPC – this provides the buyer with information on how energy efficient the property is and additional information is given by the surveyor on how the seller or buyer can improve the energy efficiency of the property.
- The Property Questionnaire – this is completed by the seller and contains information for the buyer on aspects such as council tax band, parking, alterations that have been carried out in the property, access rights i.e. do your neighbours have the right to cross your property to put their bins out, along with other things such as additional costs that may be incurred while living at the property such as shared costs for cleaning the stairwells/windows etc.
Remember however that Home Reports are written for both purchaser and seller. Accordingly they will state facts about the existence of a problem but they will not give any opinion on how bad the problem is or how to resolve it. For example a Home Report may state that there was evidence of some “structural damage to outbuildings”, meaning the only option may be to demolish the outbuilding and rebuild it which could be very costly. The purchaser should read the Home Report carefully before making their own informed decision and if there are areas you are concerned about it may be worth commissioning a further specialist report.