Sarah Teather, the Liberal Democrat Housing Spokesperson, has been busy over the past week or so asking parliamentary questions of the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. The answers received do not reveal very much new, though do highlight a lack of monitoring on the impact of EPCs as well as deficiencies on the tracking of issues relating to Home Inspectors.
In response to the question about the effect on the level of energy efficiency of buildings John Healey revealed the absence of data and was also unable to give figures on the level of non compliance within the commercial and domestic sectors.
There then followed questions relating to the plight of the Home Inspector. Ms Teather asked John Healey to provide information on the number of Home Inspectors who have paid for training, whether any assessment of job opportunities for Home Inspectors exists, how many Home Condition Reports have been commissioned, and whether any assessment has been made of the voluntary roll out of the HCR.
Mr Healey’s response was far from enlightening:
‘The home condition report (HCR) remains authorised for inclusion in the home information pack (HIP) on a voluntary basis and certificated home inspectors are accredited to produce domestic energy performance certificates (EPCs) which are a required component of the home information pack. No such assessment of the job opportunities of home inspectors has been made.
Communities and Local Government does not hold information on the number of people who have paid fees to train as home inspectors, or the number of people who have undertaken or are undertaking such training. The most recent figure supplied to us by the national EPC and HCR register operator, shows that there are 971 certificated home inspectors as of 4 January 2010. This figure may include duplicate numbers of those home inspectors who have registered with more than one certification scheme.
Although since the decision in July 2006 to make the HCR an authorised rather than required document, we continued to promote the benefits of including an HCR within a HIP. However, take-up has been disappointing with only 327 reports lodged on the central register since 1 August 2007 and it is clear that the product as it stands is not seen as the right one either by consumers or industry.
We still believe that consumers should be better informed about any property they are looking to buy before making what is undoubtedly one of the biggest purchases of their lives and that they want information about the condition of homes before they commit to buying them. As a result Margaret Beckett established the Working Group on condition information in the home buying and selling process to explore options for ensuring consumers receive appropriate information about a property's condition before they commit to buy, by building on existing products such as the HCR, and creating opportunities for all practitioners including home inspectors’.
Regrettably there is no indication of probable publication date of the Working Group’s findings, though given it existence there may perhaps be a glimmer of hope for the beleaguered Home Inspector.
In response to the question about the effect on the level of energy efficiency of buildings John Healey revealed the absence of data and was also unable to give figures on the level of non compliance within the commercial and domestic sectors.
There then followed questions relating to the plight of the Home Inspector. Ms Teather asked John Healey to provide information on the number of Home Inspectors who have paid for training, whether any assessment of job opportunities for Home Inspectors exists, how many Home Condition Reports have been commissioned, and whether any assessment has been made of the voluntary roll out of the HCR.
Mr Healey’s response was far from enlightening:
‘The home condition report (HCR) remains authorised for inclusion in the home information pack (HIP) on a voluntary basis and certificated home inspectors are accredited to produce domestic energy performance certificates (EPCs) which are a required component of the home information pack. No such assessment of the job opportunities of home inspectors has been made.
Communities and Local Government does not hold information on the number of people who have paid fees to train as home inspectors, or the number of people who have undertaken or are undertaking such training. The most recent figure supplied to us by the national EPC and HCR register operator, shows that there are 971 certificated home inspectors as of 4 January 2010. This figure may include duplicate numbers of those home inspectors who have registered with more than one certification scheme.
Although since the decision in July 2006 to make the HCR an authorised rather than required document, we continued to promote the benefits of including an HCR within a HIP. However, take-up has been disappointing with only 327 reports lodged on the central register since 1 August 2007 and it is clear that the product as it stands is not seen as the right one either by consumers or industry.
We still believe that consumers should be better informed about any property they are looking to buy before making what is undoubtedly one of the biggest purchases of their lives and that they want information about the condition of homes before they commit to buying them. As a result Margaret Beckett established the Working Group on condition information in the home buying and selling process to explore options for ensuring consumers receive appropriate information about a property's condition before they commit to buy, by building on existing products such as the HCR, and creating opportunities for all practitioners including home inspectors’.
Regrettably there is no indication of probable publication date of the Working Group’s findings, though given it existence there may perhaps be a glimmer of hope for the beleaguered Home Inspector.
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