Mike Ockenden, director-general of AHIPP, said: “I was alarmed to read the negative comments regarding HIPs, recently made by Michael Coogan of CML at the Property Forum annual dinner. While I understand that CML have a number of concerns surrounding the future of packs, and in particular the early roll out planned for later this year, I feel compelled to put right some of the inaccuracies in Mr Coogan’s statement.
“There appears to be a great deal of confusion surrounding the supposed ‘dry run’. To clarify, we (AHIPP) will be commencing our own early roll out of HIPs on 6 November this year. This early roll out is independent of the Government and incentives will be available to consumers in these areas through HIP providers registered under the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) scheme, but not limited to AHIPP members.
“The first six locations are only the start of the roll out activities, and further locations up and down the country will be announced in November, followed by further announcements in the New Year. I want to be very clear, this is AHIPP’s roll out and not the Government’s – we are not operating this in any way on behalf of the Government.
“Government is in the process of appointing an independent body who will take responsibility of an independent and robust testing of the packs in each of the six locations. A short list of contenders for this role is currently being drawn up and further details are expected to be announced imminently. I am sure that DCLG would welcome any suggestions the CML may have for particular things they would like to see measured as part of this process.
“There are currently over 500 qualified Home Inspectors many of whom are in the process of being registered by a certification scheme, with a further 4,000 enlisted for training. Many will qualify well ahead of the June 07 deadline and all who hold the HI diploma and are registered will be qualified to produce both the Home Condition Report (HCR) and the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC).
“In addition, Government has announced a new stand alone qualification that will enable those with relevant backgrounds across the industry to complete the necessary, additional training to qualify as energy assessors. This qualification is expected to be available from early 2007.
“Great progress is being made to prepare for the introduction of the packs and our findings strongly suggest that there will be enough energy assessors ready to produce the EPCs, ahead of the pack’s mandatory date of next June. There are around 10,000 individuals already recorded as being trained at some level in energy rating technology and many have expressed a strong interest in signing up to take the new stand alone energy assessor qualification as soon as it is available.
“Home Information Packs have been introduced to improve the current house buying and selling process for the consumer. Early roll out of packs will provide the opportunity to corroborate once and for all the worth of packs to home buyers and sellers. It will show that HIPs reduce the stress associated with buying and selling homes by reducing the number of failed transactions and providing certainty in the process - something which all consumers will welcome.
“I have every confidence in the HIP’s future success and I would encourage industry to direct its energy towards preparing to deliver packs well in advance of the mandatory date of 1 June next year.”
