Three assessment routes for home condition reports are to be standardised through a new digital standard launched by the Residential Logbook Association in an effort to grade the standard of information provided to prospective home movers.
The standard will alert would-be home movers and related professionals to the provenance and quality of condition assessments and tackle the issue of there not being enough surveyors to deliver a professional survey of the property ahead of listing, Sally Holdway RLBA buying and selling lead, explained.
She added: “Introducing the concept of seller-authorised, self-completed upfront condition assessments is a realistic reflection of the surveying capacity currently available across the country. We have repeatedly been told that there are not enough surveyors for the government to mandate a professionally attended condition assessment for every home as part of its proposed digital sales pack. This new opening standard breaks that status quo.”
The new digital standard for upfront condition assessments is part of the RLBA’s work to implement the recommendations made by government in its response to the home buying and selling consultation in the development of digitised upfront information products. The standard has been developed with input from surveyors and estate agents working with the RLBA.
The new standard supports three assessment routes:
Route A: Seller-authorised self-completed upfront condition assessment – the proposed opening minimum standard.
Route B: Seller-authorised surveyor-reviewed upfront condition assessment – an enhanced reviewed route.
Route C: Approved surveyor attended condition assessment – a higher-provenance attended route.
Route A supports the emerging products which allow sellers to complete a guided assessment of their property’s condition. The assessment makes clear that it has been completed by the seller and is not a professional inspection. Its value explains the RLBA lies in bringing structured condition information into the upfront information process at scale, with its source, status and limitations clearly recorded, rather than leaving property condition entirely absent until later in the transaction, mirroring previous Trading Standards Material Information guidance which allowed seller provided information to satisfy the requirements, and also elements of the existing legal process which include home owner supplied data via the TA questionnaires.
Route B provides for a surveying professional to undertake a limited remote review of the seller’s answers, photographs and supporting evidence. The scope and limitations of that review are clearly recorded, including that no physical inspection has taken place.
Route C is the more traditionally recognised home survey where an appropriately qualified and insured professional undertakes an attended condition assessment of the property.
The standard will record the route followed, the person responsible for completing or reviewing the assessment, the evidence considered and the applicable provenance and verification status. Where the assessment or supporting evidence identifies a potential concern, sellers may be encouraged to obtain an appropriate inspection, quotation or further professional advice.
Holdway explained: “This creates a further templated data standard alongside those our upfront information (UFI) group has already developed for material information and digital sales packs. We anticipate these assessments being created by homeowners using functionality within property logbooks, standalone upfront information platforms and specialist providers such as Survey Shack. The data standard required to support these reports is being added to the RLBA core logbook specification and the RLBA data library.”
Commenting on the initiative Brett Ray, founder of Survey Shack – which offers both Route A and B assessments as well as indirect support for Route C – said: “Survey Shack can provide this service today.
“Sellers can already complete a guided, seller-authorised self-completed upfront condition assessment through the Survey Shack platform, with the source of the answers, supporting evidence and limitations clearly recorded. We can also provide a seller-authorised surveyor-reviewed upfront condition assessment, involving a limited desk-based review of seller-supplied answers, photographs and supporting information. This does not involve a physical inspection or independent verification of the property’s condition.
“These assessments can be produced as standalone reports for organisations compiling digital sales packs or provided as structured data for digital property logbooks and other upfront information systems.”
The RLBA is already working with surveyors and condition assessment providers capable of producing assessments in accordance with the new standard. A key criterion is that the outputs can be delivered as structured data directly into third-party digital platforms, including property logbooks, digital sales packs and other upfront information systems.
George Ramsay of structural consultants Geared Partnerships said: “Geared supports the principle of ‘seller-assessed, seller-authorised’ as the opening minimum standard and stands ready to provide further professional investigation where an upfront condition assessment identifies a potential structural concern or where a seller wishes to obtain greater certainty before marketing their property.”
