Scotland Home Report with/without valuation

Hasbeen

googler wrote: »

See Section 4, Prescribed Documents (i.e. compulsory)

http://legislation.data.gov.uk/ssi/2008/76/made/data.htm?wrap=true

Hi thanks for all the info.

The surveyor that did my own when I was selling was not connected to seller/buyer/mortgage etc. And he did say it was common practice.

It appears that this is born out by when I do get a bid accepted it is usually 10 to 15k above HR valuation, mostly I bid 10k above but others usually outbid me. That's their choice.

I buy mainly repossession property which require upgrading, where seller is bank/company etc, so these reports are not filled in at all by "owner" all at marked N/A on the owners questionnaire.

My solicitors have always advised offer subject to survey as the Scottish Home report is so basic that the cursory usual report that sellers/buyers get, does not in all cases pick up on any serious problems.

Subject to survey means that you can back out of sale even though your bid has been accepted STT&C

As indicated my personal advice for anyone buying in the Peoples Republic of Scotland would be to get the home report and use it as a first step to look at the property,

But if serious put in bid as subject to survey, if accepted then get an independent surveyor to provide a more in depth survey before actually purchasing.

Also in my opinion it has actually been worse since then links below
http://www.journalonline.co.uk/Magazine/54-12/1007348.aspx

http://www.espc.com/news-events/news/home-reports-what-the-public-think

Also Googler please accept my apologies re not from Scotland, Edinburgher by any chance?

rpc

Prior to home reports, most buyers obtained a Scheme 1 valuation. That gave you nothing other than a value and a statement that the property was suitable as a security. Now, they pretty much get a Scheme 2 survey - it isn't exactly the same but very close. The only time you would want anything more is if you got a Scheme 3 report done and those are rare. That's a full structural survey, not terribly common in England either.

So given that most buyers now get a better survey than they did previously, why don't they have enough information?

Hasbeen

rpc wrote: »

Prior to home reports, most buyers obtained a Scheme 1 valuation. That gave you nothing other than a value and a statement that the property was suitable as a security. Now, they pretty much get a Scheme 2 survey - it isn't exactly the same but very close. The only time you would want anything more is if you got a Scheme 3 report done and those are rare. That's a full structural survey, not terribly common in England either.

So given that most buyers now get a better survey than they did previously, why don't they have enough information?[/QUOTE

As far as I can recall before HR were introduced any one buying a property had a full survey and valuation done. If a problem was noticed by the surveyor he would recommend getting a structural surveyor in do do the extra survey, "really expensive"

So HR seem to be better than scheme 1s but less than scheme 2s

No doubt someone more qualified will be able to give better advice on this.

Any surveyors out there?

googler

Hasbeen wrote: »

As far as I can recall before HR were introduced any one buying a property had a full survey and valuation done. If a problem was noticed by the surveyor he would recommend getting a structural surveyor in do do the extra survey, "really expensive"

Again, this seems to be yours and your surveyors experience, magnified into 'everyone did this'.

This may have been the way some people acted, but many, as rpc says, merely had a Scheme 1 carried out by their lender's surveyor.

googler

Hasbeen wrote: »

I buy mainly repossession property which require upgrading, where seller is bank/company etc, so these reports are not filled in at all by "owner" all at marked N/A on the owners questionnaire.

Which seems reasonable, since no-one in the bank is likely to know when the CH was fitted, last serviced, or when DG was put in, etc.

However, leaving questions blank in the PQ because the answers cannot be established isn't the same as you claimed earlier, that the PQ 'isn't compulsory'

Hasbeen

googler wrote: »

Again, this seems to be yours and your surveyors experience, magnified into 'everyone did this'.

This may have been the way some people acted, but many, as rpc says, merely had a Scheme 1 carried out by their lender's surveyor.

My surveyor? had many over the last 30yrs

Magnified into everyone did this? really never saw that in my posts?

Many did not, "had the Scheme 1 carried" out unless they were inexperienced new buyers.

This is a free forum and posters are entitled to post to try and help give personal advice to others.

Unfortunately it appears that some on this forum would rather argue/critisice/lambast others for daring to have a different opinion rather than concentrate on the original post?

As stated before are there any experienced surveyors who would care to give any other advice/input to these posting? open to intelligent comments and others.

To tired for this now as it appears that anything I say will get attacked by the not so free speech advocate.:(
So leaving this at this time.:)

beannachd leat

googler

I'm not disagreeing with you for the sake of it. I'm disagreeing because your 'facts' are liable to cause confusion.

You said the PQ isn't compulsory. It is.

You said the survey part of the HR is 'just a few pages'. In the most recent one I saw,

T&Cs 4 pages
Survey & Val 13 pages
MVR 4 pages
PQ 6 pages
EPC 5 pages

The survey is therefore the largest section of the HR.

"before HR were introduced anyone buying a property had a full survey and valuation done"

As rpc said, lots of folk just went for the lender's scheme 1

etc etc

pseudonim

Well, I'm still not sure how to proceed, but at least the discussion is entertaining!

If anyone wants to read a slightly out of date report that contains a lot of information about the state of the housing market in Scotland in the run up to the introduction of Home Reports and the impact of them in the first year or so, you can see it here

www scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/325986/0105049.pdf

lemon26

Good morning! Firstly, my lender is HSBC and, where I live (the Outer Hebrides) there is only one surveyor who does Home Reports for the Islands and he comes over from Skye. I found it really ironic as it was the same gentleman who did the Home Report as did the valuation for the lender - even though they said the Home Report wasn't acceptable due to conflict of interests :rotfl:

Regarding the refresh, we were told by our estate agent that we would require a refresh every 3 months to 'demonstrate intent' and to ensure an accurate valuation - ours dropped then went back up over the course of the year it was marketed. Also, it just so happened that the two refreshes were done on the request of potential purchasers, at my cost as seller, so they could apply for mortgages for the property. Needless to say, they fell through (I have another thread concerning this), but I had had to do the refreshes.

My personal opinion that the system is flawed as how can someone do an EPC, survey and valuation in 15 minutes? I understand that they do things in the office but that seems extremely quick to have a full look around a property. Also, the use of cut and paste on the refreshes was embarrassing - I sent one back with red pen to correct their mistakes...

Finally, I very much got the feeling they were dropping the value the longer it was on the market. Surely it's the price that should drop and not the value - that is, if the seller wants to sell, as I did. I ended up selling for 10% less than the value but couldn't have afforded to sell for 10% under a lowered value - I needed that £81k!

Oh, and I liked the comment, on the selling HR, that I should install a free-standing wind turbine as they would increase efficiency...REALLY?? It's a mid-terrace in an urban area so whose house shoudl I demolish for my wind turbine? I know, in theory, he's correct but don't they get common sense taught on their surveyors courses?

googler

The 'system', as implemented by the Govt, makes no mention of any standard timeframe to carry out an HR survey, so have to disagree that one surveyor making a short visit is an overall flaw in the whole system ...