Home Inspection Reports too damn expensive, is an EPC enough

jimmurray · Post by **jimmurray** » Sun Jan 22, 2012 10:44 pm

I found an EPC, energy performance cert for £40, the full on inspection are for people looking to buy a home and cost £275..I think this is overkill for a spouse visa application.

It states that the EPC covers a count of all the rooms, a measure of their dimensions etc, surely add some photos to this and it should be sufficient?

Does anyone know the specifics required, when it comes to satisfying the home part of the spouse visa

Thanks

skyepark · Post by **skyepark** » Sun Jan 22, 2012 10:49 pm

Yeah I didnt submit a house report , I included a floor plan and a photo of each room and letter from landlord describing the property, tenancy agreement and council tax bill and service charge bill.

jimmurray · Post by **jimmurray** » Mon Jan 23, 2012 10:58 am

skyepark wrote:Yeah I didnt submit a house report , I included a floor plan and a photo of each room and letter from landlord describing the property, tenancy agreement and council tax bill and service charge bill.

and were you successful with it? where on earth does one get a floor plan? Sorry I happened to be elsewhere when the constructors in 1912 started building the house, so floor plans may be difficult to come by..

sorry for the sarcasm just letting off steam lol

harv · Post by **harv** » Mon Jan 23, 2012 11:13 am

Hi jimmurray

A report from a reputable source is proffered for the application however it is not a legal requirement. Although I would suggest that you get it done by an estate agent. I know the price seems a little high then normal, I would have imagined it to be around £200 as well.

If you do not want to spend this money, a report from yourself with full measurements of all the rooms together with the pictures should work as well hopefully. You will need to be specific if you are doing this yourself, provide pictures of all bedrooms, living room(s) and the front/back of the house from outside. Measurement of all the rooms including Spam/utility rooms etc.

Although providing a report by yourself with pictures is fine, I would still recommend a report from an estate agent (just my point of view). However you make a good case with your EPC process as well. However I am not sure how the UKBA will see this, they might just skip this report by looking at the title (Energy Performance Certificate) if you know what I mean. As they do not care about the energy efficiency of the house, they are only interested in the overcrowding aspects of the house.

skyepark · Post by **skyepark** » Mon Jan 23, 2012 1:08 pm

Yes I was successful, your estate agents should have the floor plan, showing measurements of each room is important because each room that can be considered a bedroom must be larger then 50sq ft

harv · Post by **harv** » Mon Jan 23, 2012 1:31 pm

In terms of the floor plan, I am not sure how important that would be. The house inspection report I got does not have a floor plan but it has detailed report on each floor of the house i.e.

Ground Floor:
Lounge (size)
WC
Stairs

etc...

So as long as your report contains detailed measurements of all the rooms in the house for each floor, you should be fine.

PS - an estate agent may not be putting in a floor plan in the report if they do not have it.

jimmurray · Post by **jimmurray** » Mon Jan 23, 2012 2:13 pm

skyepark wrote:Yes I was successful, your estate agents should have the floor plan, showing measurements of each room is important because each room that can be considered a bedroom must be larger then 50sq ft

I doubt it...they are useless..they didnt know what an EPC was...Ohmes letting

I will ask anyway..If not, should I get a floor plan or EPC? which is more important? cant afford both, rip off prices

I have an inventory list from the estate agents which outlined the number of rooms etc, but it wasnt very specific

skyepark · Post by **skyepark** » Mon Jan 23, 2012 2:29 pm

Well if the estate agents are managing the property for the owner then the owner should have the floor plan, estate agents are not helpful most of the time but you must be persistant, these details are part of their job. Keep trying! UKBA does not care about the energy efffiency rating of a place but the room sizes, number or rooms and number of tenants to prove that you will not be overcrowded.

ruthmac · Post by **ruthmac** » Mon Jan 23, 2012 3:12 pm

Why do you need a home inspection report? Sorry I haven't been following all your threads but unless there's a question of your house being overcrowded, won't a copy of your lease be enough?

harv · Post by **harv** » Mon Jan 23, 2012 3:28 pm

Hi ruthmac

Well House owners are suppose to follow the overcrowding rule, but in reality its not the case. Usually a House owner would just rent the house to people they believe should fit in.

So the Immigration officials usually request for a house inspection report from a third party to outline the house and get some further details.

Although it sounds pretty simple my housing report does not have name of the occupants that are currently living. It just mentions that the house has enough room to allow my partner and one extra person to live.

Post by **batleykhan** » Mon Jan 23, 2012 11:22 pm

A housing report is only required to prove the property where one and their spouse /family intend to live will not be overcrowded but will be fit to live in with the basic necessity of washing and cooking areas.

A simple description of the property along with the sizes of all rooms except bathroom and Spam. Photographs of the property internally and externally will show its condition which should suffice for the ECO.

Just get a leaflet of any house from an estate agent, and do something similar for your own property.That has been done and visa have been issued

mrite123 · Post by **mrite123** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 3:49 pm

Hi
sorry..
I am bit confuse that, is this really requirement for spouse visa. I know people are living in share house and got approval..
I don't see EPC report is MUST have doc.

ta

harv · Post by **harv** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 4:00 pm

Hi mrite123

EPC is not required and UKBA does not care about this report.

mrite123 · Post by **mrite123** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 10:05 am

Hi Harv
Thats correct... I think we should not try to give too much information.
I would make it simple and staright forward with rent aggrement/letter from landlard and basic information about property like no. of bed room etc. some address proof.

shade00 · Post by **shade00** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 10:55 pm

batleykhan wrote:A housing report is only required to prove the property where one and their spouse /family intend to live will not be overcrowded but will be fit to live in with the basic necessity of washing and cooking areas.

A simple description of the property along with the sizes of all rooms except bathroom and Spam. Photographs of the property internally and externally will show its condition which should suffice for the ECO.

Just get a leaflet of any house from an estate agent, and do something similar for your own property.That has been done and visa have been issued

Would a child under the age of 10 be classed on the list as 1.5 or 1?

Also im sure it wouldn't be wise to exclude members from the property on the inspection report.

harv · Post by **harv** » Thu Jan 26, 2012 10:04 am

Hi shade00

A child under 10 is 0.5, this is explained in the overcrowding docs from the UKBA (http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/polic ... /#header14).

Make sure you include all people in the property in your report, people leave electronic footprints and it is sometimes very easy for the UKBA to find out exactly how many people are living in a property. So honesty plays well.

shade00 · Post by **shade00** » Thu Jan 26, 2012 9:29 pm

harv wrote:Hi shade00

A child under 10 is 0.5, this is explained in the overcrowding docs from the UKBA (http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/polic ... /#header14).

Make sure you include all people in the property in your report, people leave electronic footprints and it is sometimes very easy for the UKBA to find out exactly how many people are living in a property. So honesty plays well.

Hi Harv, Thanks for reply..

I've just got my report done the estate agent said that your house is not classed as overcrowded but it is just about full. All rooms occupied etc..
She said it would have been better for the case to have few people off the premises but hopefully it should be okay.

Should i be okay or will ukba think the property is cramped.

We've got 4 bedrooms. Mum, me my bro his wife and two kids under 6.
Also my wife will be included as another.
Brother will be moving out once my wife gets here but not straight away. He has his own property.

You think i should be okay with this?

harv · Post by **harv** » Fri Jan 27, 2012 2:19 pm

Hi shade00

From what I understand by the following paragraph, you should be fine:

A house is considered to be overcrowded if 2 persons aged 10 years or more of opposite sexes, who are not living together as husband and wife, must sleep in the same room. The Act also details the maximum number of people allowed for a given number of rooms or a given room floor area.

Bedroom 1 - Your Mum
Bedroom 2 - Your brother and his wife
Bedroom 3 - Two kids (under 10 and same sex, so fine)
Bedroom 4 - You (your wife will join you in this bedroom)

Living room/lounge - You also count it as a bedroom to have 2 people in it. So 5 rooms can have 10 people living, if you have a living room then your house should be able to accommodate all of you guys without overcrowding.

So this looks like you have the capacity for your wife to come over.

Hope this helps.

PS - also make sure the size of these rooms also matter check the aforementioned link for further details on the size.

shade00 · Post by **shade00** » Fri Jan 27, 2012 9:34 pm

Thanks Harv.

Got a call from the Housing Inspection officer and they said exactly what you stated. We should be fine! I got abit worried and thought maybe i would need to exclude people from the house but that is too risky. Thankfully all went okay.
Will be getting the report off them on monday.

Thanks again for the info Harv.

mrite123 · Post by **mrite123** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 2:02 pm

I have a query... can senior or exp help ple.
I want to start my spouse visa application process in the first week of feb or ASAP.
If I got contrat letter/aggrement from letting agency for one bed aprtment from 1 march 2012.
Can I give this detail in spouse application form and send all other document proof form my current address like bank statement,salary slip, employee letter etc
Is this something normal for spouse visa? or am I creating any complications.
refer--Section 8.6.1 in form.

Rehan Arain · Post by **Rehan Arain** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 5:43 pm

Hi .

@ Harv & Shade......Thanks for your comments regarding House Inspection Report.

Is there any possibility, If could you forward the template or copy of the report you have done....( deleting you personal info)....

I would highly appreciate......As, it is being difficult for me to do,,,, too pricely.

I am planning to do it myself.that way i can use some help.

If you don' mind.....Thanks in Advance.

Andera_05 · Post by **Andera_05** » Sat Nov 16, 2013 10:30 am

I don't know why t happens to you. I got my home inspected by Hermosa Beach Home Inspector Service. They did not charge even a single coin from me for inspection reports.

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Home Inspection Reports too damn expensive, is an EPC enough

Home Inspection Reports too damn expensive, is an EPC enough

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Housing Inspection Report