The Information Commissioners Office has been deciding whether or not the information required for the local authority search in a Home Information Pack (Hip) or for the purchaser in the conveyancing process when buying a property or land is environmental. This is a very important issue as it reflects on the potential price of the Hip. It also has a bearing on the access to the information afforded to private search companies which have been suffering restrictions and high charges imposed by council in an effort to restrict competition from the private sector.

The ICO has decided that most if not all information required in the local search is environmental and therefore access should be free.

IPSA the trade body representing ninety five percent of private search companies has been very active in lobbying both in UK and Europe to achieve this result. Also solicitors Taylor Emmett have lodged two test cases with the ICO and Pali, Ltd also has two cases lodged for consideration which will have effected the decision arrived at by the ICO.

Christian Lister, Chairman of IPSA has issued a summary of the ICO ruling which makes interesting reading. See below. It remains to be seen how obstructive the local authorities will be but history shows us that they do not generally take notice of rules that don’t suit them.

Essentially the ICO guidance confirms the following:

• The majority of the information provided by local authorities in response to property search enquiries is likely to be environmental information as defined by the EIR.
• The charging provisions in the CPSR (Local Authorities (England)(Charges for Property Searches) Regulations 2008) do not apply to environmental information.
• Under the EIR a public authority should accept an applicant’s request to inspect the information.
• Environmental information that is inspected by the applicant cannot be charged for.
• Public authorities cannot use the publication scheme provisions of the FOIA to charge for environmental information contained in property search records.
• Information that is not environmental should be considered under the FOIA. In such cases, the CPSR can form the basis for any charging.

With regard to non-environmental property search information the ICO have said “Although much of the information provided in response to property enquiries will be environmental in nature, there may be some which is not… However, we recognise that for an authority to consider each CON29 question in order to establish whether the information is subject to the EIR or the FOIA has the potential to be an overly bureaucratic process. In light of this guidance, an authority may therefore wish to adopt a policy of making all the property search information available on the basis of the principles set out in the EIR.”

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.

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.

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.

All commercial properties* on the market for sale or rent on 4^th January 2009 will need a Non-Domestic Energy Performance Certificate, also know as a Commercial EPC. Many people are not aware of this fact. If you own a commercial property which you are currently marketing for sale or rent, but is exempt from an EPC as it was marketed before the relevant commencement date, you will need to have one in place in less than three weeks time. Failure to provide a commercial EPC could mean you face a fine of up to £5000.

If your commercial property was marketed on or after 1^st October 2008, you should already have an EPC in place again if this has not been done you could face a fine of up to £5000.

The only people able to provide you with a NDEPC are accredited Non-Domestic Energy Assessors.

If you would like further information on Energy Performance Certificates, would like a quote or would like to place an order, please telephone 0151 691 1170 or email search@paliltd.com

*Possible Exemptions:

• Places of worship

• Temporary buildings with a planned time of use of less than two years

• Stand-alone buildings with a total useful floor area of less than 50m2 that

are not dwellings

• Industrial sites, workshops and non-residential agricultural buildings with

low energy demand

• Buildings to be demolished within two years

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.