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Wed 8th September, 2010
News
Home Information Packs Dry Run starts Monday 6 November |
21st December 2006 |
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Monday, 6th November 2006 made the start of the £4 Million Home Information Pack (HIP) Dry Run.
In September 2006, the Department for Communities and Local Government pledged £4 million of funding to support six area trials for the Packs in Bath, Newcastle, Southampton, Northampton, Huddersfield and Cambridge, the first of which begins on 6 November 2006. The trials are being rolled out by the Department in partnership with industry and aim to help test both the Packs and full Home Condition Reports.
The £4 million will be used during the area trials, to encourage sellers to take up voluntary Packs and there will be independent monitoring to ensure lessons are learnt from consumers first hand experiences.
However, many commentators question the validity of the trial and whether it is an effective use of tax payer’s money. The packs will be provided to potential sellers completely free of charge during the ‘dry run’, obviously this will not be the case when the packs are officially introduced. A home information pack is now expected to cost around £300 to prepare when introduced on 1 June 2007. Skeptics suggest that ‘dry run’ is not representative as consumers are not having to pay for the packs and that £4 Million pounds of tax payer’s money should be spent on schools and hospitals – a debate that I am sure will linger on throughout the dry run.
The Government gave the anti-home information pack lobby cause to celebrate in July when it performed a dramatic U-turn. It announced that home condition reports (HCRs) would not be a compulsory part of the pack when the scheme goes live on 1 June 2007, until this announcement HCRs were required to be included in all HIPs. HCRs are now an optional part of the HIP and it will be down to the seller whether or not they wish to include HCRs in their HIP. HCRs are likely to cost around £400 - so the take up is now likely to be rather low!
Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) are energy ratings for homes similar to consumer-friendly 'fridge ratings' and will be compulsory as part of Home Information Packs from 1 June 2007. The EPCs will outline the costs of heating, hot water and lighting in homes and give practical advice on how to cut these costs and reduce emissions.
If only one fifth of homeowners made the basic changes set out in their EPC they could save around £100 million a year on their energy bills and cut carbon emissions by the equivalent of taking 100,000 cars off the roads.
The government have suggested that Mortgage Lenders should offer ‘green’ mortgages with lower interest rates for energy efficient homes and that they would be meeting mortgage lenders to discuss the development of these kinds of incentives.
With the departure of big players such as Rightmove and Countrywide and the HCR U-turn the HIP industry is in a period of consolidation, most providers are delaying publishing their final proposition until January or February 2007 - possibly just in case the Government decide to move the goal posts once again!
For further information please contact Mr Amar Sandhu, Marketing Consultant, Lawcomm Solicitors T: 023 80233708 E: amar.sandhu@lawcomm.co.uk |
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