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13 Home Condition Report
Background
Under sweeping changes contained within Part 5 of the Housing Act 2004, from mid-2006, sellers will be encouraged to obtain, voluntarily, a Home Condition Report (HCR) when they place their properties on the market. New legislation will mean that from early 2007 HCRs will become mandatory, as part of a Home Information Pack (HIP).
Is the Home Condition Report a full building survey?
The HCR is the end product of considerable industry research and development and will not be a full building survey, but is a ‘level 2’ inspection and report. In other words it is intended to occupy the mid-ground between a market valuation type report (known as level 1), and a building survey (level 3). In some ways the HCR is therefore pitched at the same level as the RICS Homebuyer Survey and Valuation (HSV), except that does not contain a valuation. It is important to appreciate, however, that the HCR is not an HSV under another name, as new skills are required to fulfil the requirements of the new service.
The HCR has a number of innovative key features:
- reports will be in a prescribed, standardised format, with the intention that it is flexible enough to be used for any style and type of property from studio flats to large mansions;
- reports will be delivered electronically, through a secure web site;
- reports will be prepared under a strict licensing and quality assurance regime;
- it has been designed to be consumer friendly, consistent in its presentation and transparent in what it offers;
- it introduces the concept of ‘condition ratings’ intended to help buyers focus on the key issues relating to the property’s condition;
- it should be free of unnecessary technical jargon, use plain language and ‘controlled’ text wherever possible.
Source:www.isurvlive.co.uk
except where acknowledged