THE NEW UK 5P PLASTIC BAG CHARGE

The English Government introducing a charge of 5p for a plastic bag has caused a frenzy. English people are well known for loving a freebie and have said that they are going to protest about the charge by doing a full shop, putting it through the checkout, refusing to pay for bags and leaving the trolley full of shopping behind![1] Supermarkets are even bracing themselves for hundreds of thousands of metal baskets being stolen as shoppers carry their items out in these instead of bags. But there is a reason for the expense. Wales introduced the 5p charge on 1st October 2011 and it has helped reduce the single use carrier bag use by 71%. Carrier bags are made of oil based plastic, a non-renewable resource, meaning that a bag can take up to 500-1000 years to decompose, and may not ever break-down. Many of these bags end up as litter with 86% of single use carrier bags end-up in landfill[2]. Carrier bags coupled with other non-recyclable rubbish fill up our landfill resulting in situations like the waste site in the small village of Great Heck in North Yorkshire. Just meters away from the villager’s homes is a 10,000 tonne site piled 50ft high with smouldering rubbish, which residents say omits a horrific smell, making them and their families ill. Children in the nearby school wear masks when playing outside and Sarah Webster who lives just 200 yards away from the tip has been advised by a consultant at hospital to get away from the area when her and her family were hospitalised after being gravelly unwell. Sarah said: ‘(The tip) smells absolutely vile. It’s toxic and can often smell of burning plastic, which is a known carcinogenic.  I've lived here all my life. Even if I was looking to move now to get away from this I couldn't as it would be impossible to sell the property.’[3] The tip was run by Wagstaff Total Waste Management Ltd but they have gone into liquidation leaving the rotting rubbish to fester and self-combust, which has been estimated at costing £1million to clear away. The Environment Agency have made arrests but even with Selby MP Nigel Adams involved who knows how long it will take to eventually clear and at what cost to the residents health. [1] http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/34443310/plastic-bag-charge-five-of-the-most-english-reactions [2] http://www.carrierbagchargewales.gov.uk/consumers/?lang=en [3] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3261667/Mother-says-children-ill-awful-pungent-smell-10-000-tonnes-smouldering-rubbish-left-rotting-tip-company-went-bust.html

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What is a HomeBuyers Report? Get the facts on what a HomeBuyer Report includes.

What is a HomeBuyer Report?

The HomeBuyer Report, previously known as the Homebuyers Survey and Valuation (HSV) and often still referred to as a Homebuyers Survey, was introduced in 2009 and is completed within a standard format as laid down by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

The HomeBuyer Report is recommended for conventional, newer homes, which are in reasonable condition. It is the most frequently undertaken survey which provides a more in depth report of the condition of the property and will give you professional advice to allow you to make an informed decision of whether to go ahead with buying a property.

The HomeBuyer Report will not detail every single aspect of the building, but it does spotlight urgent matters that have a substantial effect on the value of the property and need attending to or further investigation. It will include all major sections of a property that are visible to the surveyor, so they will not lift up floors or carpets and wiring will not be included.

HomeBuyer Reports are completed by RICS Chartered Surveyors. To get the expert and independent advice a Chartered Surveyor can offer, you can compare quotes from professional and experienced surveyors here at reallymoving.com.
 
If you have a property that is in need of renovation or that you intend to alter, we recommend you commission the more comprehensive Building Survey from a RICS Chartered Surveyor.
 

 

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What is included in a HomeBuyer Report?

The HomeBuyer Report includes details of:

• A current valuation of the property as for the open market.
• Background information on the property and location.
• An estimate for the cost of re-building the property for insurance purpose.
• An assessment of any damp-proofing, drainage or insulation in the building. Drains are not tested.
• Condition of the building’s timbers and checking woodworm or rot.
• Damp test results taken from the walls.
• Details of urgent problems which should receive specialist attention before signing a contract.
• Details of major faults in easy to get to parts of the property that may affect its value.

Although a summary of the survey will be present at the front of the report and a reminder of the urgent repairs will be at the end, it is always worth reading the report in full. The HomeBuyer Report is easily understood - written in plain English rather than technical jargon.

Condition Ratings

The RICS HomeBuyer Report has 3 condition ratings to evaluate and describe the condition of the property and how urgently it needs repairing. The conditions are defined by RICS as:

• Condition Rating 1 – no repair currently needed.
• Condition Rating 2 – defects that need repairing or replacing but are not considered to be serious or urgent.
• Condition Rating 3 – defects that are serious and/or need to be repaired, replaced or investigated urgently.

If a surveyor reports findings that may be costly to remedy it can allow for the reopening of negotiations with the house seller on the price or you may wish to rethink your purchase of that property.

By comparing quotes from surveyors for a HomeBuyer Report you can get a professional inspection at a cost-effective price, as the trained eye of a surveyor will spot those potential issues that you would not be aware of. All of the surveyors on reallymoving.com are regulated by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

Here is our directory of Chartered Surveyors on reallymoving.com.

 

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Comments

• Sheila Bonnick says...

  posted on 05/12/2013 14:14:58
  This service looks good.

• Mark Emmingham says...

  posted on 20/01/2014 22:06:01
  Very very useful

• Peter Collett says...

  posted on 11/10/2014 08:31:26
  I'd be very careful about a Homebuyers Report. Mine failed to notice there was no hot water provision in the house I was buying, owing to an unworking back boiler (despite the report stating hot water was supplied by a back boiler; a quick look would have shown the thing was not working and had not been working for some time), and that a chimney needs demolishing urgently as it is leaking water into the broken back boiler. With this in mind, the valuation was significantly overestimated (local estate agents advise by about £10-15,000). I for one would never use one of these again, except for a very modern property.

• Frederick & Sheila Wood. says...

  posted on 06/12/2014 20:31:28
  Report very understandable.

• Mark Hatton says...

  posted on 20/02/2015 15:32:03
  We have now had two homebuyers' reports and neither has been useful. Sounds good in principle, until you realise that a scale of 1-3 is not adequate, and that surveyors rate most things a 3 and tell you that you should get someone to do a separate inspection of the problem. For example, our first one was for a flat with a communal area. They rated the communal area a 3 as they claimed it needed re-decorating. On our most recent, the sealant around the bath was rated a 3 (along with the very dodgy electrics!). THese things make it very difficult to judge what is actually an "urgent" problem. I suggest you get the cheapest option and then pay a decent builder for an hour to come and walk round the house with you!

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