Selling Your Home with a Home Condition Report

Home Information Packs (HIPs) have been mandatory from 14th December 2007 for anyone selling a property on the open market, regardless of the number of bedrooms. In addition to the legal contents of the HIP, it will be necessary to have either an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) or a more in depth Home Condition Report (HCR) covering both the physical condition of the property and its energy efficiency.

Home Condition Reports are here now and are produced by qualified Home Inspectors belonging to a Government approved Certification Scheme. Selling a home can be a lottery and around 30% of sales do not go through, which is inconvenient and costly for both sellers and buyers.

Armed with an HCR the home seller is in a stronger position to negotiate a sale, which will stick, as any condition issues will be known about up front. This will give the seller either the opportunity to fix the problems or to obtain a sensible quote for any work. Buyers will know about any issues and before they make an offer, which means they can take the cost of repairs into account before agreeing a price.

The price agreed is then unlikely to be subject to further negotiation and means that both sellers and buyers know where they are. Currently a major cause of sales falling through occurs after the buyer has had a survey done and then decides to reduce their offer due to unforeseen costly repairs. Often the seller cannot afford to accept a reduced offer as they have already agreed on purchasing another property.

Don't take the risk! - Commission a full Home Condition Report before marketing your home.

Click here for an example of a Home Condition Report