What is a Home Condition Report?
The Home Condition Report (HCR) was originally created to be part of the Home Information Pack. The Energy Performance Certificate, which is included in HIPs today, is a component of the Home Condition Report, but the report includes much more information than that. A Home Condition Report is an assessment of your home on the day it was inspected. A qualified Home Inspector looks at each element of your home, such as floors, walls and roof, then assigns a Condition Rating of 1, 2 or 3 together with a justification for the rating.
- A Condition Rating of 1 means that normal maintenance is all that is required
- A Condition Rating of 2 means that a fault has been detected which needs to be corrected but it isn’t considered serious or urgent, such as a partially rotten timber door frame
- A Condition Rating of 3 means the fault is serious and needs repairing immediately. For example, a broken gutter that allows waters to run down the wall where it could cause damp problems
What if there is a fault?
If the inspector finds a fault but cannot trace its origins he or she must give it a Condition Rating of 3 and state that further investigation by a specialist is required.
If you repair a defect identified in an HCR, you can add the receipt to your Home Information Pack to show the work has been done; you don’t have to commission a new HCR.
An estimate of the reinstatement costs for insurance purposes is included in the HCR. When an HCR is produced it is assigned a unique Report Reference Number (RRN) and lodged with the Home Inspector’s Certification Scheme and on the official EPC/HCR Register where you may retrieve a Home Condition Report using the RRN. The HCR is available as a PDF file.
Home Inspectors
Home Condition Reports can only be carried out by a Home Inspector. Home Inspectors are highly trained professionals who are fully accredited through a Certification Scheme with a professional body such as the Building Research Establishment (BRE) or the Surveyors and Valuers Accreditation. Home Inspectors carry professional indemnity insurance and are able to furnish the home owner with an easy to follow complaints procedure.
Do I need a Home Condition Report?
No, a Home Condition Report is not a mandatory part of the Home Information Pack and so you do not have to have one in your pack. However, many purchasers leave the survey of the property to the last minute and if a fault is found it can lead to lengthy renegotiation of the selling price or the sale might fall through altogether. Having a Home Condition Report in your pack means that purchasers know exactly what they are buying, there are no surprises and no need for late renegotiations based on faults with the property.
The cost of an HCR
There is no fixed fee for a Home Condition Report it will depend on the size of your property. This is usually judged by the number of bedrooms. Remember that an HCR includes an Energy Performance Certificate so you won’t have to pay extra to have one done for your HIP.