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Home reports postponement urged Single survey delay calls backed
(about 6 hours later)
The Law Society of Scotland is being urged to recommend that the Scottish Government postpone the introduction of home reports for another two years. A large majority of solicitors at a special meeting of the Law Society of Scotland have voted to call for a two year delay in introducing home reports.
From December all houses for sale will have to be marketed with a home report, which includes a single survey, an energy report and a questionnaire.From December all houses for sale will have to be marketed with a home report, which includes a single survey, an energy report and a questionnaire.
A body representing some solicitors said it could damage the already-fragile Scottish property market. In total 2,052 voted for a motion calling for postponement, with 52 voting against.
The Scottish Government said they would bring stability in a difficult market. The Scottish Government has said reports would bring stability.
Speaking on the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme, Communities Minister Stewart Maxwell said he believed the reports would provide "full and proper information".Speaking on the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme, Communities Minister Stewart Maxwell said he believed the reports would provide "full and proper information".
The economy of Scotland is driven in some way by the property market and when thing go badly there things end up going badly elsewhere. Ian Ferguson Scottish Law Agents Society "It will particularly help first-time-buyers," he said. With this massive vote against Home Reports, lawyers have sent a firm message to the Scottish Government that they are unwelcome in the present financial environment. Ken Swinton Scottish Law Agents Society "It will particularly help first-time-buyers," he said.
"Everybody agrees if there are no first-time-buyers in the market that ripple effect is what's causing particular difficulties throughout the market, so helping first-time-buyers, as this will do, will actually help the market.""Everybody agrees if there are no first-time-buyers in the market that ripple effect is what's causing particular difficulties throughout the market, so helping first-time-buyers, as this will do, will actually help the market."
The minister said the plans had the support of a number of other interested parties, such as the Scottish Consumer Council and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in Scotland.The minister said the plans had the support of a number of other interested parties, such as the Scottish Consumer Council and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in Scotland.
But some solicitors are against the scheme. The Scottish Law Agents Society has called on the Law Society of Scotland to press the Scottish Government for a postponement. At Friday's special general meeting, a motion tabled by the Scottish Law Agents Society (SLAS) called on the Law Society to request again that the Scottish Government postpone Home Reports for at least two years.
Ian Ferguson, a spokesman for the Scottish Law Agents Society, said lawyers had never known of a property market in such "a perilous state". Ken Swinton, a senior law lecturer at the University of Abertay in Dundee and a spokesman for SLAS, said: "This is dynamite. With this massive vote against Home Reports, lawyers have sent a firm message to the Scottish Government that they are unwelcome in the present financial environment."
He added: "What we're saying to you is that you may actually end up destroying the property market. The economy of Scotland is driven in some way by the property market and when thing go badly there things end up going badly elsewhere." He added: "Solicitors believe Home Reports will destroy the already-fragile Scottish property market at a time when, according to an assessment by Lloyds TSB earlier this week, the Scottish economy is 'grinding to a halt'."
A motion will be discussed at a Special General Meeting of the Law Society of Scotland on Friday. The solicitors did vote in favour of including an energy report.