Hip view (Home Information Packs and Energy Performance Certificates EPC

The Association of Independent Personal Search Agents (IPSA) has today completed a partial survey of its members in relation to their combined burden of bad debt. The survey has revealed the amount IPSA members have written-off since the introduction of Home Information Packs due to non-payment, liquidation, alleged fraudulent trading and improper business conduct.

Christian Lister, IPSA Chairman is shocked by the results, he commented; ‘The results are horrific especially when the majority of the debt instigators were PCCB registered or members of a hip trade association displaying the HIP Code logo. Allowing for the fact that these are only interim figures* with some members yet to finalise their losses the total number could well exceed seven figures. These institutions set industry standards and are there to give the consumer confidence in the quality of the product they are purchasing.’

Home Information Pack providers are at the frontline in dealing with consumers, mostly taking payment for goods up-front. ‘Some of these
companies have left a trail of destruction in their wake,’ stated IPSA member Steve Davies. He continued: ‘As search agents we are required to pay for Professional Indemnity Insurance as protection for all consumers using our services. All of these failed HIP companies have left their suppliers with hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of unpaid bills, which raises the issue of the title of goods being called into question.’

The auditable figure of £779,561.30* if divided by the average cost of a member’s search fee would mean that insurers have not passed title on these unpaid goods, leaving an estimated 7796 Local Authority Searches within Home Information Packs uninsured.

‘This is a consumer’s worst nightmare,’ said Christian, ‘and I believe the PCCB and hip trade associations must now stand on their key message of consumer protection and investigate the implications of this to the general public at large. I will not accept that this situation is, as one trade association Director is reported to have remarked ‘it’s just business’. It’s almost criminal and something must be done

The introduction of energy performance certificates in Scotland has been thrown into confusion after it emerged that separate government-backed energy rating software can produce radically different results for the same building

The two approved applications are the dynamic simulation model (DSM) and the simplified building energy model(SBEM).

Software producer Integrated Environmental Solutions (IES) said a hospital tested with both approved packages got an E rating under the SBEM system and a C with DSM.

David McEwan, UK manager of IES, said: “It’s only a matter of time before people say: ‘Why should we get an E when we could move up two grades?’”

Public buildings in Scotland have had to display EPCs since 4 January.

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State

On October 1^st Iain Wright MP who is the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State gave a speech at the Governor’s House in London on the final Rollout of EPC’s for both residential and commercial energy performance certificates in England and Wales. The following information is a few extracts from that speech.

“Six months ago, at the time Energy Performance Certificates for newly built homes and larger commercial buildings were introduced, I was invited to speak to some of you about the implementation of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive. At the time, I described the Directive, as a huge programme of work, a huge challenge and a huge opportunity - affecting all of us - private, public, property and energy sectors, and most importantly with the potential to affect every householder in the UK.”

As many NDEA’s and companies who employ non domestic energy assessors will agree, it has been a long arduous task from the introduction of home inspectors (HI) training all the way through to where we stand today in terms of preparing the IT systems, marketing etc and I believe that some companies may still not truly be ready for Jan 4^th.

“Today public buildings are showing Display Energy Certificates - rating how much energy a public sector building has actually used.

DECs are also a valuable tool in the fight against climate change. They show how building performance can be improved, saving not only carbon but public money. For the first time, visitors and staff can see just how much energy a building is using and also whether this has gone up or down over the last three years.”

As a search / home information pack provider we spend a lot of time in the councils around the country and the general consensus is that Display Energy Certificates are not being displayed, whether this is because they are being hidden or because they have not been carried out yet I don’t know, but I for one will be keeping my eyes open.