Trevor Kent,
a tireless campaigner for the abolition of Home Information
Packs (HIPs), see www.homeinformationpacks.com,
is delighted to say that, as of Thursday 20th May 2010, HIPs
have been suspended by the new coalition government. It is
no longer necessary for a HIP to be produced when a
property is placed on the market.
However The
Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) which was
incorporated in the HIP will still need to be prepared by
sellers or their agents and must be ordered before marketing can
begin. Beneath is an extract from the Government's
Order in this respect.
6. In
order to ensure that people selling their homes continue to make
an Energy Performance Certificate available to prospective buyers,
we have also laid before Parliament the Energy Performance of
Buildings (Certificates and Inspections) (England and Wales)
(Amendment) Regulations 2010 which introduce a number of new
requirements including:
-
a new duty
on the seller to secure that an energy performance certificate
(EPC) has been commissioned before marketing of the property
commences where no such certificate is already available
-
an EPC has
been commissioned when a Domestic Energy Assessor has been
instructed to prepare the EPC and the EPC has either been paid
for or has given a clear undertaking to pay for it
-
a new duty
on the person acting on behalf of the seller to be satisfied
that an EPC has been commissioned before commencing marketing
-
a new duty
on both the seller and a person acting on their behalf to make
reasonable efforts to secure an EPC within 28 days
-
all of the
new duties carry fixed penalties where somebody fails in the
duty conferred on them by the new regulations
Source: Communities and Government 20-5-2010
The EPC
requires a qualified Domestic Energy Assessor (DEA) to
visit your home and assess its thermal efficiency and
this information must be made available for your purchaser to
inspect. In practice the estate agency industry discovered
that only 1% of buyers were interested in the EPC findings but
the requirement for it is in EU legislation. We will be
delighted to arrange the inspection for you through the firm who
previously supplied our HIPs.
Please note
that, unlike many of our competitors, we have elected not to add
a handling fee or mark-up to the charge you will pay for your
EPC, you may well consider whether any other firm you are
considering instructing can confirm the same..
Please do
not hesitate to contact us to discuss placing your property on
the market with Trevor Kent & Co, when we can give you the
very latest news on the legislation changes.
20th May 2010
|
