Last edited 27 Jun 2016

Home report

The Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 requires that when a house is marketed for sale in Scotland, certain documents have to be made available.

A home report, is a requirement for the sale of houses in Scotland, and must be made available by the vendor on request to prospective buyers.

A Home Report includes of three documents:

A 'Single Survey' which provides an assessment of the condition of the home, a valuation and an accessibility audit.
An 'Energy Report' which provides an assessment of the energy efficiency of the home and its environmental impact, and recommends ways to improve its energy efficiency.
A 'Property Questionnaire' which is completed by the seller of the home and provides information such as Council Tax banding and factoring costs that will be useful to buyers.

Home Reports are intended to reduce the need for multiple prospective purchasers to obtain their own surveys of properties they are considering buying. They should also reduce the number of aborted sales as it provides survey information up front.

However, there may be some suspicion that as the as the Home Report is provided by the vendor, it may not be impartial. In addition there is no legal requirement to update the Home Report provided the house remains on the market. As a consequence, purchasers may still wish to obtain their own survey.

There is no charge to prospective purchasers for the Home Report, although the vendor may make a reasonable charge to cover costs of copying and postage. Buyers should receive a Home Report within nine days of requesting it.

There are some exceptions to the requirement to provided a Home Report, including new housing, mixed sales and houses that have been converted, but even where a property does not require a Home Report, the seller still needs to obtain an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) setting out the energy efficiency rating of the home.

Home Reports are similar to Home Information Packs (HIPs), which the UK government announced would be phased in from August 2007 in England and Wales. However, this was watered down to remove the requirement for a survey as part of a HIP, and in 2010 HIPs were scrapped altogether.