You may have heard about the introduction of the Home Information Packs starting in June 2006. One controversial part of the Pack was to be a Home Condition Report, a mandatory survey that the seller of the property would have to have carried out in order to sell the property. However, although the Packs are going ahead, the Home Condition Report wont be a compulsory part of it.
So firstly, what exactly is the Home Condition Report? Its the same as a survey, but instead of the buyer having a survey done after making an offer and having it accepted, the seller has to produce the Report to verify the structural state of the property. This means that buyers will have a lot more information about the property from the outset, and it should help reduce the amount of sales that collapse mid-process. In fact, it has recently been estimated that 1 million is lost every single day in costs relating to house sales that fall apart.
Less than a quarter of all homebuyers have a survey anyway instead choosing to depend on the valuation carried out by the mortgage company. Many purchases fall through simply because the valuation comes out lower than the purchase price often...