Purchaser's Information Pack and Single Survey
96. There will be a requirement on a person marketing a house (ie, a seller or the seller's agent) to provide to any potential buyer documents to be prescribed by Ministers. These will constitute the Purchaser's Information Pack, including the single survey.
97. The single survey has three key policy aims:
- to increase awareness of the physical condition of a house, so that either the seller will carry out necessary work on it or the buyer will be able to take the cost of carrying out the work into account when making an offer, and thus will be able to afford to carry it out
- to prevent the waste of resources involved in carrying out multiple surveys (either on behalf of an individual house buyer or in relation to a particular house)
- to prevent the upset price of a house being set at an unrealistically low level.
98. In order to improve the information provided to prospective right to buy purchasers, section 113 gives Ministers powers to prescribe additional information to be provided by a social landlord to a tenant who requests a house valuation in connection with the right to buy. This information may relate to costs of maintaining the house and common parts and other matters. Ministers also have powers to specify when such information is to be provided only if the tenant pays a specified charge.
Scottish Executive approach
99. Implementation of this aspect of the Act will be taken forward by a team in Communities Scotland.
100. The key steps in implementation are
- work with relevant professions and consumer groups to design the detail of the single survey and Purchaser's Information Pack
- consultation with Purchasers' Information Advisory Group and other stakeholders
- testing and research on the market effects
- production of Regulatory Impact Assessment and public consultation
- produce regulations on prescribed documents, exemptions, etc
- produce guidance, directions or regulations on support for low income sellers
- ensure quality controls and indemnity insurance are put in place
- liaise with local authority Trading Standards on enforcement regime
- awareness raising for selling agents, surveyors and lenders
- promotion of public awareness
- determine information to be provided to potential right to buy purchasers.
For right to buy information:
- work with stakeholders on the detail of the information to be provided
- consultation
- produce regulations
- engagement with valuation providers
- develop tender documents or revise service level agreement
- information for social landlords and tenants.
101. Systems are provisionally estimated to begin operating nationally by early to mid-2008.
Local authority role
102. A local authority may have three roles in this area. In the first place, responsibility for enforcing the requirement to provide the prescribed documents will lie with the local authority in its capacity as the local weights and measures authority. This will mean new duties for Trading Standards officers, who will have inspection powers and will issue penalty charge notices to people who have breached their duties under Part 3 of the Act.
103. Secondly, if the local authority has landlord functions, it will have a duty to provide the prescribed information to a tenant who requests a house valuation in connection with the right to buy. Thirdly, a local authority will have power to give assistance to a house seller who has difficulty in paying for the Purchaser's Information Pack (see paragraph 92 above).
Local authority preparation
104. A local authority will need to ensure that its Trading Standards department is suitably resourced - including the training of officers - to deal with the new enforcement duties. If appropriate, it will also need to begin planning how to deal with the provision of additional information to its own tenants in connection with the right to buy.