Therefore, the RSPA have released a statement stating that it has never been more important for home buyers to commission their own, independent condition survey for any home they plan to purchase.
The changes to laws governing estate agency, announced recently by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, mean that businesses hosting private property sales advertisements will no longer be subject to the Estates Agents Act.
Alan Milstein, Chairman of the Residential Property Surveyors Association (RPSA), said:
“The government’s decision to make businesses promoting private house sales exempt from the EAA could see thousands of home buyers committing to purchase properties without any statutory protection. This could lead to considerable confusion among home buyers, with many entering into a purchase, unaware that if any problems should arise, they will not be eligible for any form of redress.
“With the recent changes in mind, it has never been more important for home buyers to commission their own, independent condition survey on any property they plan to purchase. If purchasing a property from a private seller, the intermediary that has been promoting the property will be under no legal obligation to ensure that the property details and specifics provided to the buyer are accurate. In effect, people could be led to believe a property is in good condition, only to find once they have purchased and moved into the property that in fact, considerable works are required – a costly mistake, which could run into £1,000s.”
Awareness among home buyers of the property survey options available to them is low – action must now be taken to address this
Milstein adds:
“Too many home buyers mistakenly believe that the lender’s valuation constitutes a survey. This is not the case and with the proposed changes offering consumers even less protection, it has never been more important that buyers are aware of the importance of commissioning their own, independent survey on any property they plan to purchase.
“A recent poll of our members revealed that a worryingly high proportion of home buyers lack basic awareness about the different property surveys available to them. A staggering 72% of respondents to our survey reported that the home buyers they had been in contact with believed their mortgage lenders valuation constituted a survey. As a result, thousands of home buyers are finding out the hard way that the property they have purchased requires costly repairs.”
