Every home marketed in Scotland has come with a Home Report since December 2008, and a seller or selling agent must give you one within nine days of you asking. It is free to you, it is long, and it is the single best-documented thing you will be handed in the whole process.
It is also the document buyers skim most: many open it, find the valuation and close it, leaving the parts that describe what they are bidding on unread.
The RICS guidance is explicit that the Single Survey “is addressed to the Seller”, prepared in the expectation that it would be disclosed to people noting an interest in buying. You are a disclosed recipient, not the client. That does not make it unreliable, and it is not a reason to ignore it. It does mean nobody wrote it to answer your questions, and if you want a specialist to look at one defect on your own brief, that is a separate job you commission and pay for.
Part one: the Single Survey
A chartered surveyor visits, inspects what can be seen and reached, and writes up the condition, the accessibility and two money figures. This is the part worth your evening.
The repair categories, in their own words
Every element of the building gets a category. These are the definitions as published, not a paraphrase:
| Category | What it means, as defined |
|---|---|
| Category 1 | “No immediate action or repair is needed.” |
| Category 2 | “Repairs or replacement requiring future attention, but estimates are still advised.” |
| Category 3 | “Urgent repairs or replacement are needed now. Failure to deal with them may cause problems to other parts of the property or cause a safety hazard. Estimates for repairs or replacement are needed now.” |
The same guidance carries a warning that buyers almost never see, because it sits in the surveyor’s handbook rather than in the report: “If left unattended, even for a relatively short period, Category 2 repairs can rapidly develop into more serious Category 3 repairs.” It goes further, and says the existence of Category 2 or Category 3 repairs “may have an adverse effect on marketability, value and the sale price ultimately achieved”.
So a report full of Category 2s is not a clean bill of health. Each one is a repair that will need paying for at some point, and the guidance expects it to get worse if it is left.
What the surveyor did not do
The limits are as important as the findings, and they are stated in the guidance rather than hidden:
- Services are not tested. Chartered surveyors “are not equipped or qualified to test the services”, so silence about the wiring, the boiler or the drains is not a pass. Comment is made only where there is cause to suspect a significant defect.
- Anything not seen is not reported. Parts that cannot be seen or accessed are excluded and the report says so. Under floors, behind panelling, inside a roof space with no hatch.
- “Further investigation” is a real instruction. Where a surveyor suspects a defect in an unexposed area that could affect value, they may recommend a specialist looks. That recommendation is the report telling you it has reached its own edge.
- Minor matters are filtered out. The report is restricted to matters that could have a material effect on value. If some small things are mentioned, that does not mean there are no others.
Two money figures, and they are not the same thing
The last section of the Single Survey carries the surveyor’s opinion of market value and of reinstatement cost, and buyers mix them up constantly.
- Market value is “the estimated amount for which a property should exchange on the date of valuation between a willing buyer and a willing seller in an arm’s-length transaction after proper marketing”. This is the figure your lender lends against, and the figure the advertised price is usually set below.
- Reinstatement cost is what it would cost to rebuild, for insurance. It excludes the land. On a flat it is routinely far lower than the market value, and on a rural house it can be higher. It is not a valuation and it tells you nothing about what to offer.
The valuation is also the number your mortgage is built on rather than your bid. The gap between the two is its own guide, and the calculator turns it into a cash figure.
Part two: the Property Questionnaire
Sixteen categories, completed by the seller, not by a professional. It covers council tax band, alterations and whether they had consent, any history of damage or flooding, guarantees, factoring arrangements, parking, and notices affecting the property.
Its value is that it is the seller on the record. Its limit is the same fact. The RICS guidance tells surveyors to “always trust their own judgement as opposed to placing undue reliance on the Property Questionnaire”, and to treat what is in it as a guide to be substantiated rather than as evidence. A buyer should read it the same way: as a list of questions to put to your solicitor, not as answers.
Alterations declared with no building warrant or completion certificate. Any history of flooding or water ingress, which affects insurance as well as repair. A factor, and what the annual charge is. Notices affecting the property, including statutory notices for common repairs, because on a tenement those can follow the flat rather than the seller. None of these are deal breakers. All of them are questions your solicitor should be given in writing before you offer. If you do not have one yet, start with the solicitor directory.
Part three: the Energy Report
This carries the Energy Performance Certificate: the efficiency rating, the estimated cost of heating and lighting, and the carbon emissions rating, with recommendations for improvement. It is the part buyers skip hardest, and the one that has become the most financially interesting, because the running cost of a cold flat is a real monthly number and the improvement list is a real capital one.
Note that a property exempt from the Home Report still needs an EPC. Exemptions include homes that were on the market before 1 December 2008, new homes bought off-plan, newly converted homes, dual-use properties and seasonal holiday homes.
What to look out for, in order
A buyer’s checklist for the evening you actually read it:
- The inspection date, not the download date. The guidance says sellers or buyers “may consider it prudent to instruct a reinspection and revaluation after a period of 12 weeks (or sooner if appropriate)”. A report from six months ago describes a property, and a market, that has moved.
- Every Category 3, with a number beside it. The report says estimates are needed now. Get them before you offer, not after, because they come out of the same cash as the deposit.
- Category 2s in clusters. One is maintenance. Six on the same elevation is a building with a pattern.
- The phrase “no access”. Wherever it appears, something is unknown. Decide whether you can live with the unknown or want a specialist in.
- The valuation against the advertised figure. They answer different questions and are frequently far apart in both directions.
- Roof, chimneys, windows and common parts on a tenement, because the bill is shared and arrives whether or not you agreed to the work.
- The seller’s answers that contradict the survey. The surveyor is told to check one against the other. So can you, and a mismatch is a question worth asking out loud.
The Home Report describes the building, but it does not show what people paid for similar homes nearby, and that is the other half of the decision.
Homes in Edinburgh achieved on average 101.5% of Home Report valuation
Median 26 days to sell. Across Edinburgh, the Lothians, Fife and the Borders, 72.8% of homes sold at or above their Home Report valuation and 17.3% went to a closing date.
Bidding on a specific property?
An area average cannot tell you what the flat you viewed on Saturday will go for. That takes its street, its comparables, and how often homes like it go to a closing date.
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Frequently asked questions
Who is the Home Report actually written for?
The seller. The RICS guidance states the report is addressed to the seller, and prepared in the expectation that it would be disclosed to people noting an interest in buying. You read it as a disclosed recipient rather than as the client, which is why a buyer who wants work done to their own brief, or a specialist looking at one defect, has to commission and pay for that separately.
What do Category 1, 2 and 3 repairs mean?
They are the surveyor’s summary of condition, defined in the RICS guidance. Category 1 is no immediate action or repair needed. Category 2 is repairs or replacement requiring future attention, but estimates are still advised. Category 3 is urgent repairs or replacement needed now, where failure to deal with them may cause problems elsewhere in the property or a safety hazard.
How old can a Home Report be before it is out of date?
There is no expiry date written into the report, but the RICS guidance says sellers or prospective purchasers may consider it prudent to instruct a reinspection and revaluation after 12 weeks, or sooner, to reflect changes in the market or in the condition of the property. Check the inspection date on the front of the Single Survey, not the date you downloaded it.