 The system is designed to make things easier for buyers |
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. In total 2,052 voted for a motion calling for postponement, with 52 voting against. 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". "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." 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. 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. 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: "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'." The solicitors did vote in favour of including an energy report.
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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.
BBC News
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