Scottish equivalent of Home Information Packs gains approval

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by Kay Murchie

Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) have supported proposals to launch a single survey system for Scottish house sales. The Scottish Government explained that the move will make the property market fairer and more efficient.

The new scheme will be introduced on 1 December and the seller will pay for a 3-tier home report which will include a surveyor’s analysis, an energy efficiency report and a property questionnaire.

Sellers will have to spend between £350 and £600 for a survey before they can put their home up for sale.

Currently, potential buyers have to pay for a survey of a property but under the new scheme, the seller will pay. However, many have claimed that people would not trust surveys they did not pay for themselves but this claim has been dismissed by Scotland’s
Housing Minister, Stewart Maxwell.

Mr Maxwell said he saw no reason why people would not trust a survey paid for by the seller. He added surveyors are a very professional body of people who are providing a detailed report on the state of a property.

MSPs are going ahead with the scheme as they believe it is a good system and will benefit buyers and sellers. Furthermore, as most sellers are also buyers they won’t have to pay for a valuation on any new property.

In England and Wales, Hips were launched on August 1 to include properties with 4-bedrooms or more and rolled-out to include 3-bedroom properties on September 10. They were then extended to included all properties on December 14.

There have been many reports suggesting that the number of properties put up for sale has declined since the launch of Hips.