Home Condition Reports (HCR)
A Home Condition Report is the modern equivalent of the old surveyor's report (often called a Home buyers survey), presented in a much more straight forward way, in plain English and without hiding behind technical terms or confusing jargon. This is much more detailed than a valuation report, which simply looks at your home from a financial point of view - or more accurately from the lenders requirement that it really exists and is not worth less than the amount they are lending.
A Home Condition Report is a detailed unbiased report on the condition of a property. All inspections will be carried out with the utmost professionalism and the reports will be a true and independent appraisal of the condition of a property. All Home Inspectors must be part of a government approved certification scheme which will continually monitor working practices and reports.
The Home Condition Report (HCR) contains information about the physical condition of the property. Sellers, buyers and lending institutions will be able to rely on the report. It will provide a simple method of condition ratings. Each element of the property, for example the roof, walls, ceilings etc. will be thoroughly examined and given a rating. This will be on a three point scale:
- 1 rating indicates either no defect present or if the works are very minimal and could be classed as normal maintenance.
- 2 rating indicates that repairs are required but the home inspector does not consider these to be serious or urgent.
- 3 rating is applied if urgent works are required or maybe further investigation should be carried out.
The report is divided into a number of sections
- Section A describes the terms of engagement of the Home Inspector and the extent of the inspection. It also draws attention to those parts of the property that the Inspector will not be reporting on. The report has Condition Ratings for the majority of its property parts, and Section A describes what each rating means.
- Section B provides a summary of
general information about the home. The information
in this part will be used by lending institutions in
cases when buyers are taking out a mortgage. Drop down
menus of standard text will be provided in the report
writing software and the use of the standard terminology
developed will be mandatory in this section to aid
lenders in their processes.
The section includes information about the accommodation, the re-instatement cost for insurance purposes, a summary of the condition ratings and it highlights those parts of the property where there are defects and on which greater text is generated later in the document. - Section C provides for information that the Home Inspector collects for use by a conveyancer and others. It also draws together health and safety points that are not ‘defects’, but need to be drawn to the attention of home owners.
- Section D lists all the parts of the property that are inspected from the outside, such as the roof covering, guttering, chimneys, windows, doors etc. Each part is given a Condition Rating along with an objective statement on defects found and whether the action required is serious or urgent.
- Section E lists all of the property parts inspected from inside, such as roof structure, ceilings, floors, walls partitions and plaster, along with main fittings such as kitchen and bathroom. A subsection also gives information about damp inside the property. As with the exterior inspection all parts are rated.
- Section F reports the visual inspection of those parts of the services that can be seen. These are electricity, gas, water, heating and drainage. These too are given a Condition Rating. No part of these services is subjected to any form of physical test.
- Section G reports on the permanent outbuildings such as garages, sheds and conservatories, (leisure facilities such as swimming pools and tennis courts are not included in the inspection or report). It also reports on garden walls, retaining walls and paved areas. Common facilities, such as communal facilities for blocks of flats are also reported here. This part of the report is not subject to Condition Ratings.
- Section H delivers the energy report, setting out how energy efficient the home is and, if appropriate, what measures can be taken to make it more efficient.
- The final part of the report is the sign off by the Home Inspector who undertook the inspection.