The Scottish Government announced in October 2007 that it intended to require house sellers to provide potential buyers with a Single Survey from December 2008. This would be done using powers in the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006.
The idea of a single survey was first suggested by the Housing Improvement Task Force.
This section provides the background to the development of the new Home Report.
The Housing Improvement Task Force (HITF) final report Stewardship and Responsibility: A Policy Framework for Private Housing in Scotland, published in March 2003, included a number of recommendations for improvement of the house buying and selling system in Scotland.
Core to these was the recommendation that government should take forward proposals for a single survey, through an initial pilot or pilots.
In order to take this forward, a Single Survey Steering Group (SSSG) was set up to advise on all aspects of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the pilot. This Steering Group's meeting papers and other supporting documents are contained here - in this website and can be accessed by the navigation bar.
Following the end of the Pilot and the decision to move towards a compulsory system the remit of the SSSG changed and as such the group was renamed the Purchasers Information Advisory Group(PIAG). This group was set up to advise on the development and implementation of the Single Survey and potentially a Purchasers Information Pack.