HOME BUYERS REPORT -  Standard Terms of Engagement for an RICS level Two report    V 2022 (C19)  SAMPLE / EXAMPLE

 

Thank you for your enquiry; purchasing a property is one of the largest financial commitments and risks we take on in our lives and it is important that you understand these risks and take proper professional advice at this time.

 

We try to guide you through the process of having a Home Buyers report prepared in easy stages. 

 

References to the RICS are our professional and regulating body, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, we are Fellows of the RICS.

 

So far we have taken the instructions, now we have to confirm them to you in writing. 

 

We will then inspect the property and return the report to you, we would like to talk you through our findings and answer any questions you may have, so as to assist with any negotiations needed with the vendor or the estate agents.

 

We set out in this pack of documents: 

 

The standard terms and conditions for a Home Buyers Report (in this e mail). 

 

And enclosures:

 

• Choosing between surveys

 

• The RICS document specifying in more detail the terms of engagement for Home Buyers reports 

 

These all form part of the terms and conditions of engagement. 

This service is delivered in accordance with the Home survey standard (1st edition) RICS professional statement and is equivalent to level TWO for a Home Buyer report.

 

No additional specific services have been commissioned.

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The service does not include an asbestos inspection and it falls outside The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012.

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Minor or not significant matters may be referred to as part of the build-up of the report, but repair issues that would cost less than 1% of the value of the property to repair or replace are referred to more generally as this report is based upon a random sample inspection of the visible and accessible areas of the property.

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Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 (Section 11)  and Consumer Rights Act 2015; We consider that it is reasonable and proportionate to restrict our financial liability to the maximum of 25% of the valuation of the subject property, we give in our report.

 

We are RICS registered and approved valuers, within the RICS regulated scheme. 

 

We also confirm that this practice subscribes to the RICS complaints handling and arbitration scheme, details of which are available upon request, all correspondence to our office address.

 

The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 (The regulations) regulate most contracts made between a "trader" and a "consumer". 

 

For these regulations, Byrom & Thomas’s Terms and Conditions of business, constitute an off premises contract and we have to provide our terms in a durable medium, that is if you agree this e-mail. 

 

The regulations also say that you should agree to make the contracted payment when entering into this contract.

 

(Dealing with urgent requests: regulation 36) The regulations provide a 14 day right to cancel, this would mean that we would not make arrangement to inspect for 14 days from receipt of your instructions, but if you agree, you can waive the right to cancel under the regulations if you instruct us to proceed immediately, but you will lose the right to cancel, as we will have started the work.

 

If you cancel prior to us undertaking the inspection, we will only charge the fair cost of any services undertaken to that date.

 

In order to maintain personal safety, the surveyor will seek to access parts and areas of the property with regard to health and safety, including solo operation in vacant property, he will use personal discretion as to safe systems of working, areas that could not be safely accessed will be advised, as a general principle, it is not usually safe to access insulated roof spaces, but the surveyor will attempt to inspect safely.

As an RICS regulated firm files may be subject to monitoring and will need to be provided to RICS upon request

 

I am sorry that this letter and the RICS terms are rather formal, but it is a requirement of the Institution that you should be aware of the terms prior to commissioning the report.

 

Next Steps:

 

Please E mail back a note to say you have read the Terms and Conditions and they are agreed.     

 

You also need to say that you agree to wave the 14 day right to cancel.

 

To assist you may want to ‘cut and paste’ this phrase into an e mail back to us

 

With regard to the Home Buyers report, I/we agree the terms and conditions as set out in your recent e mail and waive the 14-day waiting period, please proceed as soon as possible with the inspection.

 

The fee agreed for this Home Buyers report is £ (Please let us know the details of the property for a quote)  inclusive of VAT at 20% 

 

(if you could e mail to confirm payment made)

 

(We cannot release the report without confirmation of the terms / waiver and payment of the appropriate fee)

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Byrom & Thomas do not maintain a client account as such, the fee will be paid into our business account as normal, as work on this commission has commenced.  Fees taken in advance are not client money and not subject to the RICS client money protection scheme.

 

We recommend you treat the report in confidence and do not send it on to the vendor, their Solicitors, Estate Agent or their other representatives.

 

 

We will phone once the property is inspected and talk you through our findings

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Trusting that this is all in order, we will make an early arrangement to inspect the property.

 

We welcome your feedback on our service.

               ______________________________________________

 

Byrom & Thomas Chartered Surveyors – standard terms of Engagement for a RICS Home Buyers report

 

You have asked for a Home Buyers report (RICS level TWO service).    

This level of service is for clients who are seeking a professional opinion at an economic price. It is, therefore, less comprehensive than a level three service, or Building Condition report. The focus is on assessing the general condition of the main elements of a property.

This intermediate level of service includes a more extensive visual inspection of the building, its services and grounds, but still without tests. Concealed areas normally opened or used by the occupiers are inspected if it is safe to do so (typical examples include roof spaces, basements and cellars). The report objectively describes the condition of the different elements and provides an assessment of the relative importance of the defects/problems. At this level, although it is concise, the report does include advice about repairs and any ongoing maintenance issues. Where the surveyor is unable to reach a conclusion with reasonable confidence, a recommendation for further investigations should be made.

This level of service suits a broader range of conventionally built properties, although the age and type will depend on the knowledge and experience of the RICS member. This level of service is unlikely to suit:

• complex buildings, for example those that have been extensively extended and altered

• unique or older historic properties – although survey level two services may be appropriate for some older buildings, the decision will depend on the RICS member’s proven competence and knowledge and the nature of the building itself. For example, a survey level two report on homes with traditional timber frames or those built much before 1850 is likely to be inconclusive and be of little use to the client or

• properties in neglected condition.

In such cases, a survey level two service will often result in numerous referrals for further investigations, an outcome that many clients find disappointing.

Where the client is planning to carry out extensive repair and refurbishment work in the future, the RICS member should give advice on suitable additional services.

When designing this report the RICS intended that a Chartered Surveyor would advise you as to his opinion of the state of repair and condition of the property and to provide a valuation.

 

The report is based upon a random sample inspection of the exterior and interior of the subject property, its grounds and outbuildings more generally; we also look at the grounds and in the case of flats the rest of the building but again in a general way.   

 

In the report, we will advise you as to whether or not the price agreed for the purchase reflects the current open market value taking into account it's repair and condition and the market conditions generally.

 

We will inspect as much of the surface area as is practicable, lift loose floorboards and trap doors where accessible, but will not practically be able to raise fixed floorboards, carpets, move furniture, or to inspect those areas of the property that are covered, unexposed or are not readily accessible. 

 

We hope to inspect the roof space, if there is a reasonably and safely accessible roof hatch, insulated roof spaces cannot be accessed for safety but will be inspected from accessible hatches.   We use binoculars to view the visible areas of the roof from ground level, inaccessible flat roofs over three metres above ground level cannot be inspected.

 

The Surveyor cannot test services.  Electrical and Gas services need to be reported on by qualified professionals, but we comment on the surface features of the systems as visible (Specialist’s tests can be arranged at additional cost)

 

Parts of the structure and of the woodwork which are covered, unexposed or inaccessible, will not be inspected and will be assumed to be sound and in good repair.

 

The report cannot give advice on the condition of uninspected parts and should not be taken as making any representation or statement about those parts.

 

The report will be provided for the sole use of you as our client and your mortgagee, solicitors or other professional advisors.  We accept responsibility to you alone and the report will be prepared with the skill, care and diligence reasonably to be expected of a competent Chartered Surveyor but accept no responsibility whatsoever to any person other than yourself.  Any other person relies upon the report at their own risk.

 

We further make the following assumptions:

 

a. That no high alumina cement or deleterious material has been used in the property.

 

b. That the property is not subject to any unusual or especially onerous restrictions, encumbrances or outgoings and that good title can be shown.

 

c. That the property and its value are unaffected by any matters which would be revealed by a local search and replies to the usual enquiries, or by statutory notice and neither the property nor it's condition, nor it's use, nor it's intended use, is or will be unlawful.

 

d. That inspection of those parts which have not been inspected would neither reveal material defects nor cause a surveyor to alter the valuation materially.

 

The surveyor will be under no duty to verify these assumptions.

 

We will not inspected woodwork or other parts of the structure which are covered, unexposed or inaccessible and we are therefore unable to report that any such part of the property is free from defect 

We must stress that we cannot carry out any investigation to determine whether any high alumina cement was used during the construction of the building inspected and we are therefore unable to report that the building is free from risk in this respect.  Should such materiel be incorporated in the subject building, In view of the possible potential danger connected with high alumina cement we strongly recommend that the appropriate investigations, inspections and tests be carried out immediately by a suitably qualified engineer.

We cannot comment on external cladding types and cannot give any guarantees or assurance of type or performance, further, with regard to clad building systems, we make the following assumptions; 

1. NO cladding system or cladding materials consisting in whole or in part of Aluminium Composite Material; and / or

2. the combustibility or fire safety requirements of any cladding, glazing, external doors and / or external wall system of any building or structure; meet government safety requirements

3. the combustibility or fire safety requirements of any component or material used in the manufacture, assembly or construction of any cladding, glazing, external doors and / or external wall system of any building or structure, meet government safety requirements

For the purposes of this definition, Aluminium Composite Material shall mean a type of panel that consists of two aluminium sheets bonded to a non-aluminium core.

We further assume that in the construction / refurbishment process of the building, all requirements of the Government and Local Authority have been met.

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Note: 

 

The Electrical Safety Council recommends that you should get a registered electrician to check the property and its electrical fittings at least every 10 years, or on change of occupancy. All electrical installation work undertaken after 1 January 2005 should have appropriate certification. For more advice contact the Electrical Safety Council.  

 

All gas, oil appliances and equipment should regularly be inspected, tested, maintained and serviced by a registered ‘competent person’ and in line with the manufacturer’s instructions. This is important to make sure that the equipment is working correctly, to limit the risk of fire and carbon monoxide poisoning and to prevent carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from leaking into the air. For more advice, contact the Gas Safe Register for gas installations, and OFTEC for oil installations.

 

I will normally recommend that electrical and gas services inspection are undertaken in the report, you could be arranging for these inspections in parallel with my inspection and report.

 

GDPR Statement :

 

Any personal information that you, or your agents provide to us will be handled and used in compliance with the principles of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) (EU 2016/679). Regardless of whether it is electronic or on paper it will be stored and processed securely, and deleted in accordance with the statute of limitation date assumptions.

 

The information you provide will help us to provide you, your financial advisors, or financial institutions with valuations, surveys and other property related advice only.

 

The lawful basis on why we use this data:  It is provided to us by those instructing us to provide services, inspect property and give valuations.

 

You have the right to:  

·  Object to processing of personal data that is likely to cause, or is causing damage or distress 

·  Prevent processing for the purposes of direct marketing (we do not share information for this purpose)

·  Object to decisions being taken by automated means 

·  In certain circumstances, have inaccurate personal data rectified, blocked, erased or destroyed; and 

·  The right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority (the Information Commissioner’s Office) 

·  Withdraw consent for the processing 

 

Our company data Protection Officer is Leslie Byrom a Partner