Buying, selling or preparing a property for market?

The Government's home buying and selling reform programme proposes moving more important property information to the beginning of the transaction.

One of the most significant proposals is for a standardised sales pack to be prepared before a property is marketed, including searches and a property condition assessment tailored to the property's age and type. The detailed requirements are still being developed, so the proposed condition assessment should not currently be treated as an existing mandatory survey product.

At Kenny Relf Surveyors, we are monitoring these developments closely and considering how earlier access to reliable property-condition information could help sellers, buyers and estate agents make better-informed decisions.

The Government proposes moving towards more information being available before a property is listed for sale.

The proposed sales pack would contain information including searches and a property condition assessment. The Government also envisages relevant professionals being responsible for gathering and verifying information within their area of expertise, giving surveyors an identified role in relation to condition information.

The intention is to give people better property information earlier in the transaction.

However, the precise requirements for the proposed condition assessment, including its eventual scope and detailed standards, are not settled in the roadmap.

For sellers, the direction of travel means preparing property information earlier.

Rather than waiting until a buyer has been found for important information to emerge, future arrangements could require relevant property information to be assembled before marketing.

For homeowners considering selling, early professional surveying advice can also be useful independently of future reform.

It may help identify:

• readily apparent condition issues;
• matters that may require further investigation;
• areas where additional specialist advice may be appropriate;
• property characteristics that should be properly understood before sale.

Kenny Relf Surveyors can provide independent surveying advice appropriate to your property and circumstances.

The Government roadmap anticipates a property condition assessment report tailored to the property's age and type becoming part of the proposed sales-pack system.

That does not mean that a Government-mandated seller condition report currently exists in its final form.

This distinction is important. A future seller-side assessment may have a different:

• purpose;
• scope;
• inspection level;
• reporting format;
• reliance arrangement;

from an independently commissioned buyer survey. Kenny Relf Surveyors will continue to follow the development of the requirements and associated professional standards.

A seller-provided condition assessment and an independently commissioned buyer survey should not automatically be treated as the same thing.

The important questions for a buyer will include:

• Who commissioned the report?
• What was inspected?
• What are its limitations?
• Who is entitled to rely upon it?
• Does the buyer require independent advice?

The Government's consultation material itself records concerns about matters including buyer trust, lender acceptance and the continuing usefulness of property information over time.

A buyer should therefore consider the actual scope and reliance provisions of any information supplied with a property rather than assuming that its existence removes the need for independent advice.

The reforms go considerably further than simply introducing another document.

The Government intends, when parliamentary time allows, to legislate so that digital property logbooks and digital sales packs become standard parts of property transactions, including minimum standardised data requirements.

There is also an emphasis on information coming from trusted sources, verification and knowing the provenance of property data.

For homeowners, this points towards property information potentially becoming more structured and reusable throughout the life of a property rather than being assembled from scratch during every transaction.

A successful transaction needs more than information.

It needs information that can be understood in context.

Technical property matters can require professional interpretation. A description of a defect, for example, is not necessarily the same as understanding its significance, what should happen next or whether further investigation is appropriate.

That is where independent surveying advice remains valuable.

At Kenny Relf Surveyors, our focus is on providing clear, practical advice in plain English so clients can make properly informed property decisions.