It may be helpful in terms of recent correspondence on Home Reports if I were to clarify the position of lenders on their introduction.

As the trade association for mortgage lenders in the UK, the Council of Mortgage Lenders has been closely involved in the development of the Home Report and the Scottish Government has been made aware of our position. The legislation covering the introduction of the Home Report provides that the survey contained in the report will be produced for the benefit of the seller and the successful purchaser of the property. It should be noted that there is no duty of care to the lender and it is only to the seller and purchaser. Lenders are therefore not in position to rely on the survey contained in the Home Report.

Lenders must, as part of their risk assessment process in deciding whether to grant a loan, be free as they are at present to assess the value of their security subjects in whatever manner they consider appropriate. The feedback we have had from our members is that they would wish, as part of this process, to receive as they presently do a valuation for mortgage purposes in their own format. The contract between the surveyor and the lender will, therefore, be established by the instructions which the lender provides to the surveyor in this regard. The surveyor's duty of care to the lender will be established by this contract.

Lenders are free to choose whatever surveyors they wish to undertake their mortgage valuation, but there is little doubt that in practice pressure will arise on lenders to use the surveyor who provided the survey in the Home Report, particularly as alongside the Home Report will sit a valuation for mortgage purposes. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors has indicated the cost of a valuation to a lender will be absorbed in the costs of the Home Report and, therefore, will be provided free of charge to the lender and customer. We have said consistently that we believe there will be many cases where lenders will be happy to instruct the surveyor who carried out the single survey to carry out a mortgage valuation in the lender's format. However, we have always reserved the position of lenders to instruct an independent valuation and have highlighted instances of high loan-to-value lending and non-acceptability of the surveyor to a lender as being the type of cases where this could apply.

We have also highlighted differing risk perspective among lenders regarding the shelf-life of a valuation. In the current slowing market, it will not be in the interests of either prospective purchasers or lenders to rely on valuation information that is several months old. A re-inspection of the property and valuation may be necessary in such circumstances.

Kennedy Foster, Policy Consultant, Council of Mortgage Lenders Scotland, 19 Lodge Park, Kilmacolm.

In response to the various letters that have appeared in The Herald, I want to address the continued misrepresentation of the facts in relation to the impartiality of the Home Report, the objectiveness of the surveyor, consumer protection and redress.

The single-survey element of the Home Report will be undertaken by a chartered surveyor who is a fully trained professional, who must adhere to internationally recognised valuation standards, carry mandatory professional indemnity insurance (PII) and comply with RICS mandatory codes of conduct. The single survey will provide the seller and the buyer with an objective report on the condition and value of the property. The surveyor will have a duty of care to both the seller and to the purchaser and will have the necessary PII cover in place to deal with this. Consumers are further protected by legislation that will give the right to a buyer and to a seller to sue a chartered surveyor should he be found to be negligent.

There is also recourse to an independent surveyor ombudsman scheme. The decision of the ombudsman is binding on the chartered surveyor. If requested by the seller, a generic mortgage valuation report will be produced alongside the single survey and can be used by a prospective purchaser when seeking mortgage funding from a lender.

Chartered surveyors are one of the most highly regulated professions in the UK. Our terms and conditions of engagement have been lodged with the Office of Fair Trading. We adhere to mandatory codes of conduct and international standards. Both Which? and Consumer Focus Scotland indicated that they supported the Home Report 100%. Is it likely these two organisations would support a product that was against consumer interest?

For the record, RICS Scotland would assure the public that advice obtained from the legal profession can be trusted. We would hope the Law Society of Scotland would extend to us the same professional courtesy and publicly state that, in their opinion, the public can place their trust in the professionalism and integrity of chartered surveyors.

Graeme E Hartley, Director, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in Scotland, 9 Manor Place, Edinburgh.