UK NEWS

COSTS OF HOME INFORMATION PACKS COULD TREBLE

Are HIPs a waste of money?

Sunday May 20,2007

By Jason Groves

Comment Speech Bubble Have your say(6)

THE cost of Labour’s Home Information Packs could soar to three times the amount claimed by Ministers, according to new research.

It warns the financial impact on households will total £337million a year - rather than the £112million calculated by the Government.

Crucial to the packs are the new Energy Performance Certificates, detailing how each home could become greener.

Ministers say EPCs will cost £97 each. But the think tank Open Europe warns the figure is likely to be closer to £150 and could even top £300. Open Europe also warns that Labour predictions that a third of homeowners will save 10 per cent a year on their energy bills is an over-estimate.

And there are also fears that legal searches, which have to be included in the packs, could also push up costs as they are being seen by some firms as “a licence to print money”.

Peter Bolton-King, chief executive of the National Association of Estate Agents, said some unscrupulous management companies would raise prices for the speedy release of documents relating to leaseholds.

This, he warned, would push the costs of HIPs “well above” the Government’s estimates.

It has also emerged that a Government consultation aimed at cutting costs on property searches – which will be carried out by local authorities for the packs – will not be completed until four weeks after the packs have come in.

However, an eleventh-hour challenge to the packs looks set to founder in Parliament next week – clearing the way for the scheme to be introduced on June 1, despite fears it could spark a house-price crash.

Although ministers are likely to be defeated in a Lords vote on the packs, the Tories have backed down on a “fatal” amendment that would have forced ministers to go back to the drawing board.

Tory sources say peers are worried about setting a precedent that could come back to haunt the Conservatives if they return to power.

What do YOU think? Are Home Information Packs a con? Comment NOW on Have Your Say.

HIP'S

27.05.07, 6:02pm

We spent a fortune on a surveyors report but were still "ripped off by the lying, cheating previous owners!" I'm not going into too much detail but to put the electics into propper shape cost us £500 and a plastic drainage manhole fitted incorrectly took me a week to dig out, alter the drain pipes and build a brick manhole. Had I not been an experienced builder (now retired) how much more would that have cost us! Still, let's look on the bright side, the rest of the house is looking 'ship shape and orderly'. Even so, the surveyor was quite obviously a waste of time and money so maybe these HIP's are really not such a bad idea after all! Debatable!
alroy.

• Posted by: alroy • Report Comment

CAN AND THE WAY I SEE IT............

21.05.07, 1:24am

Must agree with CAN ..... I like The Way I See It'ss comments.------------------look on the bright side, CAN, if the bungalow HAD burnt down, it wouldn't have had far to go. And you may have been able to beat out the flames with the HIP pack??!!!!

• Posted by: JAYDEE • Report Comment

HIP'S DON@T INCLUDE THINGS THAT CAN KILL - BUYERS BEWARE

20.05.07, 3:36pm

The_Way_I_See_It
Your comments gave me the best laugh for ages, keep it up I will be watching for more.

I recently purchased a 33 year old bungalow from a widowed woman only to find it a death trap which does not show up in surveys or future HIP's. (I am lead to believe her sons did most of the bodges) Part P and 16th Edition will not stop these as bungalow next door done by diy couple rewired partly and new consumer unit done by him and a mate since Part P but don't care about certificate & tests it's OK.
Cancer causing RADON GAS seaping through floors nearly at danger level, sellers solicitor told my solicitor when I saw it on search it's just a formality and never been found in this area, a local joiner told me he had the problem so I had tests done which take months, it proved positive so I had to have everything sealed and a air pump fitted running 24/7 for life, now test shows level lowered by 80%.
The electrics were found to be deadly with junction boxes in loft overloaded (6 sets of wires in 1 junction box from adding garage & external lights to original circuit, connectors could not tighten) causeing arcing when moving in loft, I saw sparks from junction box I touched the junction box and red hot, had this had extra thick loft insulation it would have possibly burnt the bungalow down. It was found ring main not continuos, sockets had been removed and live wire ends just cenented into walls, a second consumer unit added by just a bit of 2.5mm T&E connected into the tail connections of mail consumer unit plus many other defects not expected on a property this modern. Got an electrician who had to rip the lot out fit new consumer unit and partial rewire including armoured cable to garage with another cosumer unit, I can now got to be knowing it is safe.
Every time a property is sold it should have to undergo full tests on electric and gas
installations with certificates plus reports, which should also be extended to water supply (such as lead pipes) and sewers.
It is cheap to install loft & cavity wall insulation so not important to safety and this property has had cavity insulation but no warranty with deeds. I have had this done on 3 modern properties and had problems with it which 2 were sorted under 30 year guarantee and the guarantee passed onto new owners.
I sold my last house with 1 hour as I was honest to young buyers, I told them of 6 defects but their expensive full home survey only reoprted 2 minor defects, I supplied a plan of all serwers, water supply pipes, stop taps, electrical circuits installed and labelled each fuse, I left my new contact details in case they wanted to have anything explained later. My estate agent said they had never sold a house in such a honest way but said the buyer was delighted and offered the full askig price striaght away ans asking for it to be off the market so they would not be gazumped, I agreed as I would not of accepted a higher bid after giving my word.
I hope that young couple in Colne are still as happy as they were when they found it and bought it.

• Posted by: CAN • Report Comment

EPC - HOW CAN TEST DETECT HEAT LOSS

20.05.07, 2:38pm

How can Energy Performance Certificates/Test prove heat loss if in summer the inside of home is 20 degrees and the out side is 20 degrees or if no heating switched on in a house in colder weather, I think this is another Nu Labour CON.
I would never trust anything in the HIP for a property or a surveyors report I know first hand they are not worth the paper they are written on.

• Posted by: CAN • Report Comment

CONNED AGAIN

20.05.07, 12:26pm

As turning "green" is going to be compulsory under Brown, it goes without saying that the packs will be redundant, which goes without saying, that this is just another way of extracting money from the public.

• Posted by: JAYDEE • Report Comment

ENERGY PERFORMANCE CERTIFICATES, DETAILING HOW EACH HOME COULD BECOME GREENER.

20.05.07, 11:59am

Better Insulation, Double Glazing, Low energy Bulbs, Lower rated Apliiances, Showers instead of Baths, Greener Boilers, Compost Bins, Pigs and Chickens at the bottom of the garden to eat the slops, Methane extraction at the bottom of all sewer pipes, Pass wind into specially constructed resceptacles, Roller skates to save nergy getting around and a Broom up your backside to sweep as you go!

Please send a check for £100 million to me and give a copy of this HYS to every household in britain!

Which mental hospital has been chosen to train brainless Moron's to do thgis non job!

• Posted by: The_Way_I_See_It • Report Comment