This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Single survey scheme
03/03/2005
The Executive is to move to introduce a mandatory single
survey scheme across Scotland, Communities Minister Malcolm
Chisholm confirmed in a Parliamentary Answer today.
The single survey will provide prospective buyers with
detailed information about the condition of a house or flat
before making an offer and help to cut the common and
costly problem of multiple surveys.
Under the proposals, sellers will be required to
commission a survey and make it available to potential
buyers when they put their homes on the market.
Mr Chisholm said: "For most people, buying a house is
the most expensive purchase of their lives. Yet the worry
of spending hundreds of pounds on what could be wasted
surveys means many house buyers take ownership of their new
property lacking an in-depth knowledge of its
condition.
"We know that one in four buyers face unexpected repair
costs of around £3,700 in their first year in their new
home, while in popular areas, a third of buyers effectively
waste hundreds of pounds on surveys that don't lead to a
purchase.
"A single survey scheme will provide buyers and sellers
with a range of useful information on the property being
sold, alerting people to existing or potential problems
that can be prevented through maintenance, helping address
the urgent repair headache.
"Since last July, we have been piloting the single
survey in four areas across Scotland, testing the concept
of the survey and the ability of the market to deliver on a
voluntary basis.
"As we approach the eight month point of the pilot, it
is clear that the voluntary approach has not delivered, and
that in this market-led situation, the potential marketing
advantages have not provided sufficient incentives for
house sellers to take part.
"We believe that the rationale for the single survey
remains strong - providing in-depth information on a
property to buyer and seller before sale and ending the
need for multiple condition surveys.
"We have therefore concluded that the market will not
deliver the single survey on a voluntary basis and that we
should now evaluate the detailed outcomes of the pilot with
a view to introducing a mandatory single survey scheme.
"The shape of the final scheme and timing of its
introduction will be worked up in consultation with
solicitors, estate agents, surveyors, consumer bodies and
other interested parties, taking into account a careful
evaluation of the pilot."
The 'Single Survey' was recommended in 2003 by the
Housing Improvement Task Force (HITF). It recommended that
the scheme should be market-led and piloted as such, but
believed that the legislative approach should be held in
reserve.
See
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2003/03/3293
The HITF identified weaknesses in the house buying and
selling system in Scotland. These included: a reliance by
most purchasers on valuations which provide only limited
information on a property's condition; the existing system
encourages multiple surveys and valuations, particularly in
buoyant markets, resulting in increased costs for buyers
and means they are less inclined to commission detailed
surveys in advance of making an offer; and artificially low
upset prices set by the seller to stimulate interest, which
can result in prospective buyers making unrealistic offers
on property.
Task Force research showed that over a quarter of new
home owners face unexpected repair costs of around £3,700
in the first year of buying a property.
The voluntary pilots ran in four parts of Scotland -
Dundee, Inverness and parts of Edinburgh and Glasgow - from
July 2004. The pilot was scheduled to run for between
eight and 12 months and it was hoped that 1200 surveys
would be commissioned to allow for statistically robust
analysis. In seven months, 74 surveys were commissioned -
65 in Glasgow, five in Inverness, three in Dundee and one
in Edinburgh..
There is an estimated £425 million of disrepair in
private sector houses sold each year and around £5 billion
worth of urgent and pending repairs in private sector
housing as a whole - according to the 2002 Scottish House
Condition Survey.
Around 90 percent of purchasers currently commission
only a basic valuation report when seeking to buy a house,
in part because of the cost of paying for multiple house
condition surveys.
Research in 2000 and 2001 showed that around a third of
properties for sale in Scotland are surveyed more than
once. The cost to house-hunters arising from multiple
surveys and valuations each year is around £7 million, or
about a third of the total spent each year.
A system of home condition reports provided by sellers
to prospective buyers will be introduced on a mandatory
basis by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister from 2007
in England and Wales.
The Executive announced last year that the forthcoming
Housing Bill will include enabling powers for Ministers to
make regulations to establish a mandatory single survey
scheme. The detail of the scheme will be developed in
consultation with interested parties and the experience of
surveys conducted as part of the pilot.