Hip view (Home Information Packs and Energy Performance Certificates EPC

According to the Foi act Freedom Of Information Act. Any company or organisation holding information on behalf of local authorities is governed by the act and is subject to the same rules of disclosure.

This applies to the water companies which hold the rateable values of properties which was passed to them by the local authorities to enable them to work out the water charges on domestic properties.

I have written to United Utilities asking for the rateable value of properties in their area giving them twenty working days to respond as per the rules. They did not reply. I wrote again. They have not replied.

The reason I want this information is because it is a question on the Con29 DW and helps me to produce a personal drains report so I can see why they would not want to reply and supply this information.

I may have to take them to court to get this information. I did it once before and won and I am quite prepared to do it again.

I read in a recent post on Yahoo! About a disgruntled gentleman who flew virgin Atlantic. For those of you that have read the letter will know that it is probably the best complaint letter ever written. The letter was originally published by The Telegraph on the 30^th Jan 2009.

What was of particular interest to me was the bit about the cookie, the description of a back-street underground cookie, purchased off a gun-toting maniac. The story has been blogged all over and has made it on to the Sky News, Money Saving Expert and has a following on Twitter!

Well folks I have heard from a reliable source that the letter was indeed a hoax from Virgin Atlantic’s PR company WCRS.

Well I don’t know about you but I originally thought “that’s terrible! I am never flying with Virgin!” however it has got everyone talking.

What does all this have to do with HIP’S ? or indeed PALI ? well the answer is not much! I sent the email around the office and the franchisee’s contributed to the illusion that this letter was indeed the real deal. Thought I would just set the record straight!

Councils may soon have greater freedom to build more homes under plans going out to consultation today.

Under the proposals announced by Housing Minister Margaret Beckett, councils would be able to keep all the rental income from any homes they build, as well as keep the receipts from any of those homes which are later sold through Right to Buy.

The extra money could free councils to invest in the building of more council houses, helping to deliver more homes for families in need.

Councils currently only build a few hundred council homes a year, with the majority of new social homes being built by registered social landlords. The consultation proposals would seek to boost this build rate by removing some of the financial barriers stopping councils from building new properties and increasing their housing stock.

Housing Minister Margaret Beckett said she wanted local authorities to play a bigger role in the delivery of council housing and invited councils interested in building more homes to discuss their ideas with the Homes and Communities Agency.

Margaret Beckett said:

“We are determined to help keep house building going in the current climate, as the long term need for more homes is not going to disappear. These new freedoms will encourage councils to play a bigger role in driving forward the delivery of new affordable homes for families in housing need.”

The Government recently announced it would invite councils to bid for a share of the capital grant given to social landlords to subsidise the cost of new housing. The new financial rules will make it possible for councils to compete for this funding alongside other providers of social housing such as registered social landlords.

Recently the government announced a mortgage rescue scheme. It consists of a £200m package designed to prevent some of the most vulnerable home owners getting their homes repossessed. Now like me you may be wondering, how will it work and will I benefit from it?

Mortgage Rescue will operate by bringing together local authorities, Registered Social Landlords (RSL), lenders and debt advice agencies. The two elements work in the following ways:

                Shared equity - RSL provides an equity loan enabling the householders’ mortgage repayments to be reduced.

                Government Mortgage to Rent - RSL clears the secured debt completely and the applicant pays rent to the RSL at a level they can afford.

The level of grant to a RSL will be determined using the Homes and Communities Agency’s value for money assessment criteria after a Money Adviser has advised on the most appropriate route after establishing a household’s affordable housing costs.

Who will it help (and how many)?

This scheme will not help those who are in negative equity. It is subject to a set of eligibility tests. Depending on individual circumstances, there are two possible options for those eligible:

                Shared equity
Those who have an equity share in their homes and are facing a payment shock from remortgaging and/or higher living costs but likely to retain current income.

                Government Mortgage to Rent
Those who are unable to meet lenders’ requirements eg those on unstable incomes. Those who are more suited to social tenancies.

The government are introducing regular inspections for air conditioning systems. By 4 January 2009 all air conditioning systems over 250kW must have their first inspection, and by 4 January 2011 all air conditioning systems over 12kW must have their first inspection.

The trigger for air conditioning systems inspections is the size (effective rated output) of the system not the type of building and so the measures apply to homes, commercial and public buildings.

The inspection which is done by an accredited energy assessor will include an assessment of efficiency, a review of their sizing and advice on improvements or replacements and alternative solutions.

In this months EAFOCUS magazine Jon Hilton makes the misleading statement about personal Search companies that, “some even offer Personal Water Searches (which they shouldn’t) He does not bother to say why they shouldn’t and it is this type of flippant, misleading comment that gets picked up by the media and the trade giving Personal Search Companies a bad name. There is absolutely no reason why Personal DW con 29 reports cannot be in Hips provided they contain the proscribed information in the proscribed manner. Of course, just like local authorities, water companies will not give access to the information required to complete these reports as they wish to maintain their monopoly position. Instead of introducing charging for public information, government should be following it’s beloved EU and making access free to all as it is to local authorities and water companies

Nick Small, Pali, Ltd.