Another One Bites the Dust

Another One Bites the Dust

When they came to power in 1997 New Labour promised they would be making radical changes to the house buying/selling process. This was based around the principle of the so-called "Seller's Pack" which would include details and searches on the property. The idea behind this was to put all the information on a place together and thus make buying more straightforward. A brilliant idea that would actually benefit millions of ordinary people, especially the bit relating to surveys.

As you no doubt know every potential buyer of a property is currently required to hire their own surveyor to examine the property. Not too bad if the place is fixed-price and you know the sale is going through. Not so good if you lose the sale due to not being given any clue what the other prospective buyers are offering. Last time I was house-hunting I had to pay for three of the damn things before I finally got a place.

Of course, this system is great for one group of people. The surveyors. Since it is not unusual for the estate agencies or mortgage lenders to 'recommend' a surveyor it is possible the same surveyor will get multiple requests for one property. A property for which they may well have done the initial valuation survey. Somehow, I doubt if they'll be doing repeated surveys so they're getting repeatedly paid for the work.

So the eminently sensible idea was to make the seller responsible for the survey and make the report available to all prospective buyers, not only cutting the cost of house-hunting at a stroke but helping the decision-making process, too. One of the houses I missed out on was down to its being sold whilst I was awaiting a survey report on it. Besides, I don't see why I should need to pay £100 plus to find out something that might make me not want to buy.

So, finally, this long-awaited piece of legislation is about to become law. Without the clause regarding surveys.

Yes, Tony & his cronies have once again caved in to pressure from business and corporate lobbying saying that was a bad idea. The groups who make money on this think that cutting the number of surveys on any one property is bad for the public. Wonder why they think that, eh?

Remember, these are the people whose services you are compelled to use when buying a property, at least if you want a mortgage. Once you've paid their fees you have absolutely no legal redress if the information they provide is entirely wrong and you end up with a place that's riddled with dry rot and hasn't been re-wired since the 1940's. These are the people whose incomes our dear premiere has chosen to protect.

The mortgage lenders had a hand in it too. They said they'd still want their own surveys done for "security". Apparently it would be too easy for a homeowner to fake a survey or somesuch. Nothing to do with their cosy commission arrangement with the surveyors, then.

If ever any evidence were required that New Labour couldn't give a stuff about ordinary people and their needs then betraying this promise must be it.