How much does a Home Report cost in Scotland, and what does it cover?

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Quick answer

The seller pays for a Home Report, not the buyer. Published surveyor fees start around £300 plus VAT for homes under £100,000 and rise with value; a dated survey of seven providers puts most homes at £360–£900 including VAT. It contains a single survey and valuation, a property questionnaire and an energy report.

What does a Home Report cost?

Surveyors price Home Reports on a scale by the home's likely value, adjusted for size, age, condition and location. Most firms quote on request rather than publishing a scale. One national firm, Shepherd Chartered Surveyors, publishes a starting point: from about £300 plus VAT for homes under £100,000, and £350–£400 plus VAT in the £100,000–£200,000 range. The bands below are from a survey of seven Scottish providers updated 30 September 2026, quoted as published; they are averages, not a quote for your home.

Home Report cost by property value band, Scotland, 2026
Property valueTypical fee excluding VATIncluding VAT
Up to £100,000£200–£450£240–£540
£100,001–£200,000£300–£550£360–£660
£200,001–£300,000£450–£600£540–£720
£300,001–£400,000£600–£750£720–£900
£400,001–£500,000£700–£900£840–£1,080
£500,001 and above£900–£1,000£1,080–£1,200

Quotes are often given excluding VAT; ask the surveyor for the full figure. A home that is unusual, large, rural or in poor condition can cost more than its value band suggests.

Who pays for the Home Report?

The seller, as a condition of putting the home on the market. The Scottish Government introduced the Home Report in 2008 “to provide better information about the condition of properties to sellers and buyers before offers are placed”, and to end the pattern of several buyers each paying for their own survey on the same home. A seller or selling agent must give you a copy within nine days of you asking; if they do not, mygov.scot says you can contact the council's trading standards service. As a buyer you pay nothing for it, which is why reading all three parts is the first thing to do once you are serious about a home.

What is in a Home Report?

Three documents. The single survey is a chartered surveyor's visual inspection of the home: its condition by element, its accessibility, the repairs it may need and the surveyor's opinion of value, which lenders will often rely on for the mortgage valuation. The property questionnaire is the seller's own answers about the home — council tax band, alterations, parking, factoring charges, known problems. The energy report gives the energy rating and running-cost information and doubles as the Energy Performance Certificate. Only surveyors registered with or authorised by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors can produce the single survey.

How long does a Home Report stay usable?

The regulations require the information to relate to a date no more than 12 weeks before the home is first put on the market. There is no fixed expiry after that: a Home Report is usable until the home is sold. On a home that has been for sale for a long time it describes the property as it was when listed, so a surveyor may require a replacement to keep the information current, and a lender may ask for a refreshed valuation. Ask the agent when the single survey was carried out before you rely on its value.

What the Home Report was never designed to cover

A Home Report is about the building. The surveyor inspects visually, so what cannot be seen — under floors, behind fitted units, inside walls — is outside what the survey can report. The questionnaire is the seller's account, not an independent check. And none of the three parts is a screen of the risks around the property: SEPA's flood mapping for rivers, the sea and surface water; the geological hazards under the plot; radon potential; whether the address sits in a former coalfield; or the environmental registers nearby. Those are the questions a pre-offer property report is built for — see the Home Report vs property report comparison.

How a HouseCheckup report differs for a Scottish address

Scotland is covered at the same price as England — £9.99 Lite or £24.99 Complete, one-off — but not with the same sources, and the report says so. For a Scottish address it reads SEPA's river, coastal and surface-water flood maps with climate-change scenarios; the national geological survey data for ground stability, recorded landslides and the radon band, and the coal-mining area status; Historic Environment Scotland's listed buildings and conservation areas; SEPA's register of regulated sites nearby; Scottish school data (without an inspection grade, because Scotland does not publish one); and neighbourhood-level sale statistics with the official per-address route (the heritage, schools and sales sections are Complete only). It does not inspect the building or value it: that is the single survey's job.

What a Scottish report does not include, stated before you buy:

  • Sold-price history for the individual address. Registers of Scotland sell per-address data under licence and there is no open equivalent of HM Land Registry Price Paid. We show neighbourhood-level sale statistics instead, and link you to ScotLIS for a free per-address check.
  • Council tax band. The Scottish Assessors' valuation list is not openly published; look yours up free at saa.gov.uk.
  • Street-level crime. Police Scotland do not publish to data.police.uk, so no street-level figure exists for any Scottish address from any provider.
  • Energy rating. Scottish EPCs sit on a separate register we do not yet carry.
  • Bus and rail stop listings, Census neighbourhood profile, and coastal erosion projections.

The Home Report covers two of those from another angle: its energy report gives you the energy rating, and the surveyor's valuation gives a professional view of value where per-address sale history is not openly published. That is the practical case for reading both. Emailed to you as a PDF within 24 hours, usually faster.

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How the two fit into a Scottish purchase

Offers in Scotland go through a solicitor, often against a closing date, and an accepted offer moves quickly towards a binding contract. That puts a premium on knowing what you are buying before your solicitor notes interest. Read the Home Report as soon as you are serious. If the single survey or the questionnaire raises something, ask about it through the agent. Then screen the address for flood, ground, radon and mining before you commit your solicitor's time — it answers questions the Home Report does not ask. The pre-offer check lists the twelve questions in order; the Edinburgh and Glasgow area guides cover the two biggest markets.

What the Complete report adds alongside the Home Report for this address

Get the Scotland findings — £24.99

One-off · no subscription · Human-checked and emailed to you · see an illustrative sample

  • SEPA river, coastal and surface-water flood likelihoods at the postcode point with climate-change scenarios — the flood screen a Home Report does not run
  • Ground stability, recorded landslides, the radon band and coal-mining area status for the address, with the natural ground hazards rated for the surrounding cell
  • Historic Environment Scotland designations — whether the point sits in a conservation area, and the listed buildings within 250 m and 1 km by category — and SEPA's regulated-sites register nearby
  • Neighbourhood sale statistics with the official per-address route, and every check Scotland does not publish named rather than scored as a pass

For a Scottish address the report carries no council tax band, no per-address sold price, no street-level crime and no energy rating; each is named as not checked, with the official place to look it up.

Frequently asked questions

It depends on the home's value, size, age and location and on the surveyor. One national firm publishes a starting fee of about £300 plus VAT for homes under £100,000 and £350–£400 plus VAT for homes between £100,000 and £200,000; a dated survey of seven providers puts most homes between £360 and £900 including VAT, rising to £1,080–£1,200 above £500,000. Quotes are often given excluding VAT, so ask for the full figure.
The seller. A seller or selling agent must commission the Home Report before marketing most homes in Scotland and must give a copy to a buyer within nine days of being asked. The buyer pays nothing for it.
Three parts: a single survey and valuation, a property questionnaire and an energy report. The single survey is a chartered surveyor's visual inspection covering the home's condition, accessibility and the repairs it may need, with an opinion of value. The questionnaire is the seller's own answers about the property. The energy report gives the energy rating and running-cost information.
The rule is about when it was prepared: the information must relate to a date no more than 12 weeks before the home is first put on the market. There is no fixed expiry after that, but on a home that has been for sale for months the report describes the property as it was then, and a replacement may be required so that the information given to buyers is up to date. Ask whether the valuation is still current and whether your lender will rely on it.
Usually not: the Home Report already contains a chartered surveyor's single survey, which is why Scottish buyers rarely commission a separate one. You can still instruct your own for an unusual building or when the single survey flags something you want investigated. A desk report is not a survey and does not replace one; it screens the ground and the area around the building.
No. The single survey is about the building's condition and the questionnaire is the seller's account of the property. The official flood mapping for rivers, the sea and surface water, the geological hazards under the plot, radon potential and former coal mining are screened separately — that is what a pre-offer property report is for.
mygov.scot lists homes on the market since before 1 December 2008; new homes sold off-plan or to the first occupier; newly converted homes not yet used in their converted state; dual-use homes used for residential and non-residential purposes; and seasonal holiday homes. Even these still need an Energy Performance Certificate.
£9.99 for Lite (the hazard screen) or £24.99 for Complete, one-off, the same as in England. For Scotland it carries no council tax band, no per-address sold price, no street-level crime and no energy rating — each is named as not checked, with the official place to look it up — and uses SEPA flood maps, Historic Environment Scotland designations and Scottish school data in place of the English sources.

Sources

Fee figures are as published by the sources above on the dates stated; they are not quotes. Confirm the fee, VAT and what is included with the surveyor.