Scotland Home Report with/without valuation

rpc

Hasbeen wrote: »

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

From conversations I had with my solicitor (one of the largest ones in the ESPC), this is not correct. We were considering obtaining a scheme 2 report and were left in no doubt how rare this is. As it was, the solicitor mentioned the issue we were concerned about to the surveyor and the surveyor looked at it as part of the scheme 1 (no further action required).

It was absolutely normal practice to only ever obtain a scheme 1 valuation.


The home report surveys we had carried out on two properties took a good hour or two.

unlucky67

I'm actually looking for information on what to do about an inaccurate EPC on house we bought...(said no cavity wall insulation but it does have!) but have to comment...
Firstly although we are in quite a desirable area (in Scotland!) property isn't moving - houses are relatively more expensive here...prices are about what they were if a little less than before the crash - I don't think home report values are low!
We looked at a house 9 months ago but decided it wasn't for us...it was on for offers over £215k - had been valued at £230k for HR....now is still on market as fixed just less than £200k (and I think that is still too much).
The house we got has a HR mortgage valuation of 190K (according to report needed no improvements - had a few usual cat 2 on there but had original 1970s windows, bathroom, kitchen, wiring!) we offered just less than £180k in a sealed bid thing (our solicitor said it wouldn't be enough) and it was the highest offer...
I decide to just go with the HR survey ...mainly because of what happened in this house ...
The mortgage included a survey - house looked like it just needed a bit of minor decoration but as a FTB, to be safe, I decided I would pay the extra £200 and get a more in depth survey (scheme 2???)... It contained lots of I can't inspect the attic because there is stuff in there, I can't inspect the floor because of the carpet, I recommend an independent electrical and boiler inspection, etc, etc ...and missed the fact our patio was above DPC, neighbour had built up above DPC against another one of our walls, double glazed units needed replacing (so badly warped you could fit a finger between frame and window opening on one window - in fact a whole door and window panel used to move in the wind!), evidence of woodworm, the bathroom extension into the eaves was a complete bodge job (to be fair had somehow managed to get a letter of comfort for previous sale) with absolutely no insulation (like having a bath in your loft! toasty!).
It hasn't fallen down yet ... but still I would imagine paying extra for the survey would have picked up on some of that...looking at HR survey on new house it seems just as much in depth as that one was!

googler

Unlucky, are you complaining about the EPC, or the survey aspect of the HR?

When did you move in?

unlucky67

Not moved in yet - bought it last June and still trying to get finished renovating...
On the EPC in the HR it recommends having cavity wall insulation fitted ...local council sent me a letter and said I could have it done for nothing (not sure about it personally but thought I'd lose nothing to get them to come and look at it ...no point dithering about it if it couldn't be done anyway!)
Within 10 secs the guy told me it had been done - you could see the injection mark patterns etc - I've had a hole drilled for a bathroom fan and felt in there ...and it definitely has been...
The cavity wall guy told me I should complain, 'must' get the EPC changed and the surveyor should have spotted it....
I'm not sure if it is worth the fuss ( have had better windows fitted, rewire etc so it is all a bit redundant anyway)...
The other thing was a survey I had done 11-12 years ago...just think it was pointless then paying extra for a 'better' survey...it seems it was just as thorough as the one done for the HR on our new house...(and a few people up post said that wasn't good enough!)

googler

Why would you care about what the EPC says, and what do you hope to achieve by 'making a fuss'?

Why would anyone think you 'must'get the EPC changed, when all it says is that energy efficiency of the house would be improved by the addition of CWI (regardless of whether or not it's there already?

If it was there already, the owner should have mentioned it in the property questionnaire.

unlucky67

Thanks -
First the property questionnaire was completed by the daughter of the owner - owner has dementia (in her 90s - as was her partner - they are both in a home now )- apparently didn't even know she had a house...guess it is the same if someone has died....

I thought as much...except maybe I will get more calls/letters about having cavity wall insulation if the EPC says I don't have it...(they're on a database somewhere aren't they?)
Or if I wanted to sell /rent within 10 years I think I would have to have a new one done...in theory if it was right I wouldn't
Think the cavity wall guy was a bit miffed -they'd been to another one the same earlier that day...and in my case he said it was really obvious if you knew what you were looking for...in fact I could see them - and that does make me wonder a bit if the surveyor missed anything else...
and I don't have any record of when it was done or by who - so if I do have any problems I don't have any come back - if surveyor had picked up on it I could have asked for the guarantee in paperwork ...(if it had eg new double glazing I would have been asking for the guarantee..)