Idle speculation - what if the seller had to pay all the costs instead of the buyer

paulj2021

I’m bored today waiting to hear back about a viewing so, in idle speculation, I wondered what would happen to the house market if the cost of surveys, searches and even stamp duty became the sellers responsibility rather than the buyers? Imagine a world where you had to commission a full impartial property survey before you could even put your house on the market… After all the seller has to pay for the EPC now so it’s not too much of a stretch to imagine further costs being placed on them in future?

MaryNB

I like the Scottish way of doing things with the Home Report. A buyer knows what they're buying upfront, a seller doesn't have to worry about the buyer dropping their offer several weeks down the line. 

Home Reports in Scotland and EPCs in UK are legal requirements when selling. Survey (in England), GSC, EICR aren't so it comes down to who benefits from having it done. 

MovingForwards

Similar to the Scottish system, but without the seller paying for stamp duty (LLBT or whatever it is up here)

Or

like the home information pack trial that never took off because buyers were still instructing their own surveyors as they didn't trust the ones commissioned by the seller.

user1977

paulj2021 said:

Imagine a world where you had to commission a full impartial property survey before you could even put your house on the market… 

Some of us have already been living the dream since 2008...

Sunsaru

If you put all the costs onto the seller then house prices would rise to cover it.

Slithery

It's already been tried. The only thing that remains of the scheme is the EPC.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_Information_Pack

MaryNB

Slithery said:

It's already been tried. The only thing that remains of the scheme is the EPC.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_Information_Pack

I can see the three months requirement being a bit tight, houses often stay on the market longer than that, but a lot of the docs listed will have to be provided at some stage. Not sure why some people claimed it was 'expensive and deficient red tape'. I find it ridiculous that it takes so long for people to see a copy of the lease when buying a leasehold, that should be upfront. Local searches, title docs, property information form are standard. The Home Condition report and Fixtures and Contents wasn't mandatory so the cost of the condition report was still optional. 

People could shave so much time off the buying process if that information was provided up front. 

Chandler85

Yeah but then a surveyor wouldn't get the view the same property 4 times for 4 different people and get paid 4 times for it.  Ok so 4 is excessive, but there must be thousands of properties surveyed multiple times, each time the surveyor gets paid.  Same with the valuations, which are often ridiculously priced.

Tiglet2

One of the problems with the HIP pack was there was no comeback on the surveyor by the buyer, since the surveyor's contract was with the seller.  Therefore, many buyers still paid for their own surveys.  Also, title documents and searches were quickly out of date, so if a property takes some time to sell, the seller would need to obtain updated copies at their cost.  HIPs were estimated at the time to cost around £600, which the seller would need to spend before marketing the property.  Consequently, a lot of sellers decided to stay put.

Justonemorecupoftea

Not sure about stamp duty, but I'd be happy (as a seller) to provide all of the information up front, rather than the drip feed process. Even if people want their own survey, I'd be happy to provide the TA6 and related documents via the EA rather than the solicitors, even if they then review/verify things.

Our last buyer didn't mind the subsidence we told them about straight away, but freaked out at radon gas.

user1977

Tiglet2 said:

One of the problems with the HIP pack was there was no comeback on the surveyor by the buyer, since the surveyor's contract was with the seller.

That doesn't necessarily follow. Home Reports in Scotland can be relied upon by buyers and lenders. Would be a bit pointless otherwise. Are you sure that wasn't the case with HIPs?

This archived doc says "The Home Condition Report will have to be completed by a qualified, certificated Home Inspector who will carry out an on-site assessment. Sellers, buyers and lenders will all be able to rely on it as an accurate report."