RICS HomeBuyer Service 2009

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors introduced a standard format 'Level 2' type of inspection and report over 25 years ago. The service and report has been revised several times since; for Chartered Surveyors wishing to use the 'HomeBuyer' style of report the '2009' version became mandatory from December 2009.

The RICS HomeBuyer Service applies to houses, bungalows and flats that are conventional in type and construction and apparently in reasonable condition. Generally the Service includes properties that:
· are of Victorian to present day construction;
· have load bearing structures or simple frames;
· use conventional building materials and construction methods;
· have service systems commonly used in domestic residential dwellings.

However, the Service by definition excludes unusual or specialist construction types such as:
· properties (but not pre-Victorian) built using less common structures and materials, e.g. 1920s timber framed 'mock Tudor' houses, thatched roofs;
· prefabricated concrete and steel framed properties built after the Second World War;
· properties using new and developing technologies or materials.

And of course does not cover pre Victorian, Listed, period or more unusual residential property and property though much newer that may have been extended or altered.

We have taken the decision that our clients are better served NOT having a HomeBuyer Report and instead we offer a shortened style of Building Survey Report we call 'Building Survey Summary Report'. More comprehensive information about this report is available under the Building Survey menu link.