SAVA HOME CONDITION SURVEY - TERMS OF ENGAGEMENT
Terms of Engagement:
The report has been commissioned on the basis of these Terms of Engagement. This report has been commissioned by, or on behalf of, the buyer of the property, and describes the condition of the property on the date of inspection. The Home Inspector has a duty to provide an impartial opinion that can be used and relied upon by a prospective buyer. The appraisal is provided for the sole use of the Client and is confidential to the Client. The inspector accepts responsibility to the Client alone and accepts no responsibility whatever to any other third party, person or body. Any third party, person or body who relies upon the appraisal does so at their own risk, and Cottage Surveys.com gives no authorisation for the Report to be communicated to any such third party, person or body without having previously obtained the express written authorisation of Cottage Surveys.com
This Home Condition Survey will be carried out in accordance with the ‘Home Inspectors Inspection and Reporting Requirements – Version 3 February 2005’. These Terms of Engagement may not be amended by the purchaser or the Home Inspector. Any services the Home Inspector may agree to provide in addition to preparing this Home Condition Report must be by another contract. The terms of payment and fees payable for the Home Condition Report are as separately agreed between the Home Inspector and the Buyer or Seller (or on the Buyer or Seller’s behalf). Those parts of the property that have been inspected and those parts where an inspection has not taken place are set out below and form part of these terms.
The Home Condition Survey is produced by a surveyor who is a member of the SAVA Home Inspector Certification Scheme. The surveyor must provide an objective opinion about the condition of the property which you, as the buyer, will be able to rely on and use.
To become a member of The SAVA Home Inspector Certification Scheme and be able to produce Home Condition Surveys, the surveyor has to:
Pass an assessment of skills, in line with National Occupational Standards; and obtain the Diploma in Home Inspection.
Have insurance that provides cover if a surveyor is negligent.
The surveyor must follow the inspection standards and code of conduct set by SAVA. To ensure compliance all members are continuously monitored and before membership is granted a Criminal Records Bureau check is undertaken. SAVA can revoke membership if a surveyor fails to maintain the expected professional or ethical standards.
The Home Condition Survey is in a standard format and is based on these terms, which set out what you should expect of both the surveyor and the Home Condition Survey. Neither you nor the surveyor can amend these terms for the survey to be covered by the SAVA Certification Scheme. The surveyor may provide you with other services, however, any other services the surveyor may provide are not covered by these terms nor by the SAVA Certification Scheme and so must be covered by a separate contract.
All surveyors who are members of the SAVA Home Inspector Certification Scheme have a complaints procedure which can be escalated to SAVA. If you have any complaint about this report, you can complain by following the complaints procedure.
1. What the report tells you
The report tells you:
About the construction and condition of the home on the date it was inspected.
Whether more enquiries or investigations are needed.
The Reinstatement Cost for insurance purposes derived from data supplied by the Building Cost Information Service (BCIS) except where the property is very large or historic, or if it incorporates special features, or is of unusual construction not covered by the Building Cost Information Service; in which circumstance a specialist would be needed to assess the reinstatement cost
The main aim of the report is to tell you about any defects that need urgent attention or are serious. It also tells you about things that need further investigations to prevent damage to the structure of the building.
The report applies ‘condition ratings’ to the major parts of the main building (it does not give condition ratings to outbuildings). The property is broken down into separate elements and each element has been given a condition rating 1, 2 or 3 or NI – see more on definitions below.
2. What this report does not tell you:
This report
does not tell you the value of your home or cover things that will be considered
when a valuation is provided, such as the area the home is in or the availability
of public transport or facilities.
It does not tell you about any minor defects that would not normally affect
your decision to buy.
The report does not give advice on the cost of any repair work or the types of repair which should be used
The report is not an asbestos inspection under the Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2002
This report does not warn you about any Health and Safety Risks to occupiers or visitors to the property except where conditions affecting Health and Safety are such that repairs or building work are required.
If you need advice on subjects that are not covered by the Home Condition Survey, you must arrange for it to be provided separately.
3. What is inspected?
The surveyor undertakes a visual inspection of the inside and outside of the main building and all permanent outbuildings, and the parts of the gas, electricity, water and drainage services that can be seen.
4. Condition rating definition
The surveyor
gives each part of the structure of the main building a condition rating,
to make the report easy to follow. The condition ratings are as follows.
Condition Rating 1
No repair is currently needed. Normal maintenance must be carried out
Condition
Rating 2
Repairs or replacements are needed but the surveyor does not consider these
to be serious or urgent
Condition
Rating 3
These are defects which are either serious and/or require urgent repair or
replacement or where the surveyor feels that further investigation is required
(for instance where he/she has reason to believe repair work is needed but
an invasive investigation is required to confirm this). A serious defect is
one which could lead to rapid deterioration in the property or one which is
likely to cost more than 2.5% of the reinstatement cost to put right. You
may wish to obtain quotes for additional work where a condition rating 3 is
given, prior to exchange of contract
NI.......Not inspected
(see “How the Inspection is carried out” below)
5. How the Inspection is carried out
The inspection
is visual and non invasive. This means that the surveyor does not take up
carpets, floor coverings or floorboards, move heavy furniture or remove contents
of cupboards. Also, the surveyor does not remove secure panels or undo electrical
fittings.
The surveyor will state at the start of sections D, E and F of the report
if it was not possible to inspect any parts of the home that are normally
reported on. If the surveyor is concerned about these parts, the report will
tell you about any further investigations that are needed. The surveyor does
not provide estimates on the cost of any work to correct defects or comment
on how repairs should be carried out.
6. What Building Elements are inspected:
Externally, all reasonably accessible parts of the property are inspected from within its grounds and adjoining public and communal areas, from ground level with the help of binoculars. To assist in inspecting any elements of the property, such as roofs and chimneys, which cannot be accessed from ground level, the Home Inspector uses a ladder where the surface is no more than 3 metres from ground level and where it is safe and practical to do so
Internally: The Home Inspector gains access to as many parts of the property as is safe and practical. Internal fixed floor coverings are not lifted and heavy items of furniture are not moved. Cupboards are not emptied where it would be unreasonable for the Home Inspector to do so. To assist the inspection, a moisture detecting meter is used in selected locations. In the event that some part of the property is inaccessible, which would normally have been inspected, this is mentioned within the report.
Services: The Home Inspector carries out a visual inspection of those parts of the services (electrics, gas, water, drainage), which can be generally seen on a day-to-day basis. The taps will been turned on, and drainage inspection chambers will be opened where they can be found and lifted safely by one person.
Flats: The interior of the flat is inspected as described above. The roof space is only inspected where it has direct access from within the flat. The common parts that lead to and from the flat and the exterior of that part of the building containing the flat are inspected to identify if there are any urgent or significant defects, for which the cost of repair is likely to be shared by the flat owner and others.
Grounds: The Home Inspector walks round those parts of the grounds where it is safe to do so, but only reports on matters of an urgent or significant nature.
7. What are not Inspected:
The Home Inspector does not carry out tests of services, or look at those parts of the property that are covered, unexposed and inaccessible. In particular the following were not inspected:
Exterior: The parts of the property that can only be seen by entering somebody else's private grounds or property. Flat roofs that cannot be reached, other than from ground level with a 3 metre ladder. (The Home Inspector does not walk on flat roofs). Exposure works are not carried out to the foundations and parts of the property covered by the ground.
Interior: Areas that are behind secured trap doors, behind furniture or filled cupboards.
Floor surfaces and under floor areas that were beneath fitted carpets and other fixed floor coverings.
Roof voids, where there is no access or where the access is above 3 metres from the immediate floor level below, or where it would be unsafe. Insulation and other material in the roof space was not lifted or moved. The inside of chimneys, boiler and other flues.
Services: Where services were turned off at the time of the inspection and so could not be visually observed in operation by the Home Inspector, this is stated in Section F. No contractors’ tests on services are carried out and the Home Inspector does not report on compliance with Regulations relating to such services to the property.
Drainage inspection covers are not lifted where they were heavy, screwed down or otherwise sealed in. Any services in categories not listed in Section F are not inspected at all.
Flats: Roof spaces that are not accessible from within the flat. Grounds Leisure facilities including swimming pools, tennis courts together with temporary outbuildings such as timber sheds, all of which are expressly excluded from the scope of this report.
Contamination: The Home Inspector does not test for the presence of harmful substances within the buildings or in the grounds but where in the course of inspection signs of contamination are seen that require testing or further investigation, then this is mentioned.
Planning The Home Inspector does not carry out any search of registers about planning, building regulation approvals and other statutory information held by local and other public authorities about the property. Where it is evident during inspection that there have been alterations or additions to the property for which statutory permissions or consents might have been required this is noted in the report.
Note: The Home Inspector may recommend further investigation where a suspicion about defects is raised within a part of the property that has not been inspected.
8. What you should do in the event of a query or complaint:
Should you have any query or complaint about this Home Condition Report or the Home Inspector, please follow the published complaints procedure. This can be obtained on request from the Home Inspector who undertook the inspection.
