A Scottish seller still has a Home Report from last year. Why must they not invent an expiry in a number of days, and who should they ask what is required now?

What is the fuller explanation?

Old packs tempt people to borrow expiry rules from other documents, such as an energy certificate's ten-year life in England, and glue them onto the Home Report. That is the invention to avoid. The pack, where it is required, has three parts: the single survey and valuation, the property questionnaire of 16 categories, and the energy report. The page you can cite does not convert last year's date into a pass or a fail by counting days. If repairs were marked urgent or as needing future attention, a buyer is still told to consider cost and get estimates. Your guess about expiry does not retire those words.

Who you ask is your solicitor, against the facts of this marketing, not a round number from a forum. Trading standards at the council are the route the page gives a buyer if a required Home Report is not provided within nine days of being asked. That route is not a reason for you to invent a renewal date in order to look helpful. If the sale is exempt, an EPC is still required, and you should not describe the exemption as an expiry either. Say what you know: you have a pack from last year, and you are checking what is required now.

What should you ask your surveyor?

• Which date is on the Home Report you already hold?
• Which items were marked urgent or as needing future attention?
• Are you about to state a number of days the cited page does not give?

What are the typical next steps?

1. Ask your solicitor what this sale requires now.
2. Do not write an invented expiry onto last year's pack.
3. If a Home Report is required, provide it within nine days of being asked.

Costs vary with the building and with who you instruct. Where this page does not cite a published figure, ask the surveyor, a relevant specialist, or your solicitor for a written quote. Do not treat a forum average as the price.

Also asked about this

Which pages should you read next?

• A seller in England emails the EPC and calls it the buyer's survey. What is the buyer still missing?
• The seller paints over a tide mark the weekend before the inspection. What can the surveyor no longer see, and what should the seller not claim afterwards?
• Should you ask the surveyor to change a rating because the seller shouted?
• Guide: Should a seller in England or Wales get a survey?
• All UK home survey questions

Sources

• mygov.scot: Buying a home: Home Report
• RICS: House surveys: the costs, types and benefits of an RICS home survey
• RICS: What to do now (consumer PDF linked from the RICS home survey guide)