Scottish House Condition Survey: information for interviewees

The Scottish House Condition Survey is the largest housing survey in Scotland. It measures the condition and energy efficiency of Scotland's homes. The survey covers all types of housing.

Ipsos MORI employs professional interviewers and surveyors to carry out the survey for the Scottish Government. The Survey has two parts. First an interviewer visits you. They work flexible hours and can call at a time convenient to you. A few days later, a professionally qualified surveyor visits to assess the condition and energy efficiency of your home.

Every year, we randomly select about 5,000 Scottish addresses from the Royal Mail address list. Every type of housing in Scotland is included in the Survey because we want to interview a wide cross-section of people and survey a wide range of properties.

What questions will the interviewer ask?

The interviewer asks you about you and your home and how you feel about its state of repair, how much work you have done to it recently, whether you wish to move and what you think about the local neighbourhood.

How long will the survey take?

The Scottish House Condition Survey consists of two separate surveys. A social interview in which the householder is asked questions on topics relating to housing, such as housing history, heating systems and costs, home repairs and improvements and ownership/rental costs. This usually lasts around 45 minutes and is conducted using a CAPI (Computer Assisted Personal Interview) system. The second part of the survey is the physical survey. In this part of the survey the householder is asked no questions, instead a surveyor will undertake a visual inspection of the dwelling. This part of the survey takes between thirty minutes and an hour, much of this time, the surveyor will be outside the house.

What will the surveyors do?

The surveyor will assess the condition, design and energy efficiency of your home. Much of their time is spent surveying the outside, but they will ask to see all the rooms inside. The survey is a visual one and will involve taking pictures of the front and back of your home. It will not disrupt your home in any way.

How is the survey used?

The survey data gives an up-to-date picture of housing conditions across Scotland. The Scottish Government, Ministers and local authorities use this information to:

• Measure whether housing conditions are getting better or worse for everyone, identify areas most affected by poor housing, and how satisfied people are with where they live;
• Monitor whether what is being done to improve standards in both public and private housing is working;
• Target resources to where they are most needed.

There is nothing wrong with my home. Why should I take part?

If we missed particular types of housing, our overall picture of housing in Scotland would be wrong. We need to examine all kinds of property including homes in good condition as well as those which need some work. Even if you've just moved in we still want to represent your housing needs.

Is the survey confidential?

Yes. Your information is treated with the strictest confidence and stored according to the Data Protection Act. It is used to produce anonymous statistics for decision-making in government and genuine research purposes only. It is impossible to identify any individual or address, or find out about someone's personal circumstances. No details will be passed to commercial organisations. If you want to find out further information about data confidentiality within the SHCS then please refer to the SHS Privacy Notice and Data Protection Impact Assessment.