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 Government has today unveiled plans to reduce household carbon emissions to almost zero by the year 2050 through a combination of energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies.

The Heat and Energy Saving Strategy has been published for consultation today by DECC (Department of Energy and Climate Change) and CLG (Communities and Local Government), and includes proposals for:

· Rolling out low-cost home energy audits, developing a qualification for energy advisers, and establishing an accreditation scheme for installers.

· Finance packages to install energy efficiency measures and low-carbon heat and power sources would be offered to householders. Repayment from part of the savings on energy bills would be linked to the property, rather than residents.

· Combined with guaranteed cash payments by way of a Renewable Heat Incentive and a Feed-in Tariff for small scale electricity generation, the payback for homeowners who switch to low-carbon technologies and save energy would start from day one.

· Options for improving the delivery of energy efficiency advice and measures, including establishing a central coordinating body funded by energy companies and working to Government-set targets.

Commenting on today’s announcements, deputy managing director Austin Baggett said:

“We already have a great vehicle on which to deliver these plans – the Energy Performance Certificate. We also have a highly trained work force of qualified and accredited energy assessors. It is encouraging that Government has recognised the importance of both of these in their proposals.

“However, we now need to quickly develop a far more detailed plan for how energy advice is to be provided and, crucially, how it is to be funded. Energy assessors will need to receive funding to pay for any top-up training they need and funding will also be required to subsidise the cost of providing the energy advice. We also need fiscal incentives to persuade householders to take action on the advice that they receive – we cannot simply rely on people ‘to do the right thing’. Government should be bold and use differential rates on both stamp duty and council tax to encourage householders to act.”

Click on the link below to go to the DECC website and see the Consultation on Heat and Energy Saving Strategy:

http://www.decc.gov.uk/consultations/index.htm

NB: Two other consultation documents were also published today: The Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT) consultation and the Community Energy Savings Programme (CESP) consultation.

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.

The government is considering introducing a levy on domestic Energy Performance Certificates to pay for the expansion of the system used to assess the energy efficiency of houses.
This comes as the government prepares to retender the contract for the Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) for energy rating dwellings, currently run by BRE, according to sources.
Under the plan, £10 from every EPC would go towards reforming SAP and measuring the actual performance of homes rated under the system.
It is thought the government spends between £500,000 and £1m a year on SAP. It is unclear how the charge would be policed.
Liz Reason, from the Association of Environment Conscious Building (AECB), said: “A £10 levy on an EPC would generate a pot of money to start making SAP closer to the reality of what goes on in buildings.”
BRE developed SAP for Part L of the 1995 Building Regulations but its role in rating homes with high levels of energy efficiency has become controversial.
Should firms undertaking EPCs pass the levy on to housebuyers?

With the credit crunch biting and energy prices ever increasing, should home owners employ the services of Domestic Energy Assessors (DEAs) to rate their properties and give them advice on where they can make savings on their fuel bills? With Energy Performance Certificates now relatively cheap, in many cases the price of the EPC could be covered many times over by the savings made on their bill by implementing the recommendations.

EPCs may have suffered due to the unpopularity of the Home Information Pack (Hip) and their usefulness is still widely overlooked. They are a valuable report and have the potential to save people quite large sums of money. People only seem to purchase them because they are forced to do so by law, however there is no reason home owners who intend to stay in their property can’t buy one with the view to reducing their fuel consumption.

If you would like further information on Energy Performance Certificates, either residential or commercial please email steve@paliltd.com or telephone 0151 691 1170.