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27 Feb 09
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The introduction of home reports has been "a disaster for the Scottish housing market", according to the managing partner of law firm Caesar & Howie, David Barrowman.
Mr Barrowman has sent a letter to all MSPs, urging them to act on what was "an emergency" in the housing market.
The home report system, introduced in December, requires sellers to pay for a property survey for potential purchasers.
Mr Barrowman told MSPs that, despite the economic conditions, the number of new sellers his business encountered dropped just 6% in the first 11 months of 2008. "On 1 December, home reports became compulsory – and our inquiries to sell properties and listings absolutely collapsed.
"In the two months since home reports became compulsory, our listings have dropped by a truly extraordinary 80% from our average pre-legislation levels."
Mr Borrowman rejected a Scottish Government claim made earlier this month that the impact of the reports on the housing market cannot yet be assessed, and called the Government's decision not to review the system until the end of 2009 as a "willful disregard for the welfare of Scots and Scottish families… in a faltering economy".
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "Data from solicitors' property centres suggests the long-term trend in listings is a substantial drop from the previous year, driven by the state of the market. November figures were high against this trend, fuelled at least in part by a number of agents advertising to encourage early listing of properties to 'beat the deadline' of the introduction of the home report."
A spokesman for Consumer Focus Scotland, which campaigned for the reports, said: "It is quite extraordinary, faced with the worst credit squeeze in a generation, fears of negative equity and some of the most worrying weeks for anyone in a job, to decide that blame for the fall in house sales should be pinned on home reports."