The Housing Improvement Task Force was set up to carry out a full examination of the issues affecting the condition and quality of private sector housing and the process of buying and selling houses.
The task force made over 150 recommendations on how the condition of Scotland's privately owned housing could be improved.
Core to these recommendations was the proposal for better information on house condition to be available in the buying and selling process for houses. These proposals led to the Home Report which a seller or their agent must provide, upon request, for all properties marketed for sale from December 1 2008 onwards.
This section also contains details on help available to first-time buyers and to owner-occupiers in mortgage difficulties, as well as where to find figures for up-to-date house prices.