Scotland’s 18 years of experience with Home Reports suggest that upfront information can improve certainty, reduce late-stage surprises and become an everyday part of the transaction process.
As England and Wales prepare for their own reforms, Scotland offers a real-world case study of what works, what doesn’t, and why successful reform requires more than simply introducing yet another document.
In From Home Reports to reform: what both nations can teach each other, the latest episode of Landmark Talk’s Property’s ‘Cross-Border Conveyancing Chats’ series, hosts Liz Jarvis and Richard Hepburn compare notes from either side of the border.
Richard has watched Scotland’s Home Reports operate since they launched in December 2008; Liz has lived (and worked) through England’s initial attempt at a similar idea with Home Information Packs (HIPs), introduced in 2007 and abruptly scrapped in 2010. Between them, they map out what made upfront information work – and what got in the way.
Scotland’s reforms had sceptics too
It’s tempting to assume Scotland got this right the first time. It didn’t.
When Home Reports launched at the end of 2008 – requiring sellers to commission a pack before listing, including a single survey and valuation, an energy report and a property questionnaire – the market response was familiar: scepticism about cost, doubt that surveyors had the capacity, worry that listings would slow down, and uncertainty over whether lenders and consumers would actually trust the reports. The launch also landed in the middle of the 2008 recession, muddying the picture further.
“There was a lot of mixed views and a lot of scepticism about how it might land… I mean, the impact of the reports, people may have blamed things on the report which weren’t actually caused by the reports,” says Richard.
Turnaround times were an early problem as surveyors adjusted from condition surveys to full Home Reports. The seller’s property questionnaire – completed by the seller themselves – was inconsistent in quality. None of this was resolved overnight.
The turning point: making it part of the process, not a bolt-on
The single biggest factor in Scotland’s success wasn’t the report itself. It was 2015, when the Home Report was written into the Scottish Standard Missives – the standard sale and purchase contract – so the seller’s questionnaire had to be formally warranted as part of the deal.
As Richard says: “you’ve immediately then got a bridge across between what might just look like a kind of marketing information document and something which actually has a real purpose in the transaction.”
That’s the lesson Richard thinks England and Wales haven’t fully absorbed yet: it isn’t enough to produce a report. Every professional in the chain – conveyancers, agents, surveyors, lenders – has to adjust how they work around it. Reform succeeds as a system change, not simply the introduction of another document.
Why HIPs didn’t survive
Liz believes one of the biggest reasons HIPs failed is that they never had enough time to bed in. There was no cross-party political agreement, a phased rollout that started with four-bedroom-plus properties, and then a change of government before momentum built.
“Everybody agreed, nobody ever disagreed, with the concept of bringing information to the front of the transaction,” says Liz. “That was never the issue… It was really around allowing it to run for long enough for people to become more familiar with it.”
The difference this time, both agree, is that the current MHCLG reforms have cross-party backing and have gone through far broader industry consultation – which matters, because the alternative is repeating a two-decade-old mistake. The environment is also very different to 2007, with far greater emphasis on digital processes, collaboration and data sharing across the property sector.
The industry isn’t waiting for legislation
Perhaps the most practical takeaway from the episode is that Scotland’s experience argues strongly against a wait-and-see approach. Liz points to Project 28 – the cross-industry charter that Landmark Information Group co-founded, with OneSearch also among its members – as proof that the sector is already organising itself ahead of legislation, not after it.
The charter’s eight commitments are built around one headline ambition: bringing the average transaction down to 28 days. Landmark will mark the charter’s first year of operation with an anniversary panel event on September 10th in Central London.
As Liz says: “we really do not want to let the grass grow under our feet when there’s an inevitability around it… The sooner you get there, the better chance of success you have for winning market share.”
Legislation, as Richard puts it, tends to set the floor rather than drive the culture change. That thinking sits at the heart of initiatives such as Project 28, where firms are already exploring how earlier information, better-connected processes and greater collaboration can improve transaction certainty ahead of any proposed legislative change. Those already adapting their workflows are likely to be better prepared when the reforms arrive.
The takeaway
Asked for the one message every conveyancer or property professional should take from Scotland’s 18 years of experience, Liz didn’t hesitate:
“Build at the beginning, don’t try and rescue at the end.”
Liz Jarvis
Watch the full conversation now – From Home Reports to reform: what both nations can teach each other, episode 2 of Cross-Border Conveyancing Chats, for the complete discussion, including the myths still holding upfront information back in England and Wales.
Available on Spotify and YouTube.
