Home report scam alert

HOMEOWNERS are being warned to be wary of internet deals offering cut-price home reports.

These reports, which are required by law by anyone selling a home in Scotland, should be put together by a properly qualified surveyor and usually start at about £300 plus VAT.

The purpose of the report is to provide potential purchasers with all the relevant information they need if they are thinking about making an offer on a property.

It also provides sellers with information to decide whether or not potential home improvements should be undertaken before they put the property on the market.

But it seems scammers, usually acting through social media platforms, are impersonating genuine firms and offering cheap deals to unsuspecting sellers.

Eric Curran, chairman of the Residential Property Professional Group Board of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, said: “Scammers have been exposed recently for doctoring home reports which may have been carried out some years ago and are in the public domain, by re-dating them and passing them off as the recent work of established firms of chartered surveyors.”

Eric warned: ”They will offer their ‘services’ on social media at a price which is more than half the going rate and will demand to be paid in cash. Contact numbers and company names are conspicuous by their absence.”