The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has announced further details about its revised scheme for Home Information Packs (HIPs), including confirmation that HIPs will be introduced on 1 June next year and they will include mandatory Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs), searches and other legal documents and voluntary Home Condition Reports (HCRs).
£4 million of government funding has been pledged to support area trials, working in partnership with The Association of Home Information Pack Providers (AHIPP). The first six will be in Bath, Newcastle, Southampton, Northampton, Huddersfield and Cambridge and will start in November.
Services for Home Inspectors (SAVA) is currently going through the approval process to become the first Certification Scheme for Energy Assessors and Home Inspectors. Government hopes that this will be completed in time to enable them to certificate inspectors before the area trials begin.
All Energy Assessors and Home Inspectors will need to have an appropriate qualification and also be members of an approved Certification Scheme. National Occupational Standards for Energy Assessors will be available in February 2007; this will provide a framework for a separate qualification for energy inspection.
Landmark Solutions has been selected as the preferred bidder to set up the HCR Register and government is now in the final stages of contract negotiation with this company. To ensure security and facilitate quality assurance, EPCs will be required to be lodged on a register.
Ian McCartney, Minister for Consumer Affairs, has invited applications to run the redress schemes that estate agents providing HIPs will need to belong to from next June. He has also published the criteria to be used to assess the suitability of applicants. The intention is that from next June consumers will have a single point of access for all complaints affecting the buying and selling of homes.
