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Ryan George – Fee Scale as at 1st May 2010
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All prices + VAT
Please note we will only quote homebuyers report above £400,000 for unaltered houses. The new HBS does not lend itself to altered and older more complicated houses.
Home buyers - Conversion flats up to £150,000 - £400.00 + VAT
Up to £250,000 - £500.00 +VAT
Market Valuations 0.1% subject to a minimum of £200.00 + VAT
Joint sole Expert reports 0.15% subject to minimum of £500.00 + VAT
Some things I' d like to share with you
Welcome to the new world of consensus politics. EPCs are 'strewn with schoolboy errors' I say "Frankly what can you expect when you hand a complex property task to people with little or no property experience"- read on
Monday 11th January 2010 Dodgy Energy Performance Certificates are being issued that are not worth the paper they are written on. They are 'strewn with schoolboy errors' and 'glaring omissions', according to Communities and Local Government, in a warning to the accreditation schemes that are meant to police the regime. CLG has accused the schemes of failing to catch unacceptable or invalid EPCs, and of allowing Domestic Energy Assessors (DEAs) to lodge reports when their membership has run out, or if they have been expelled from other accreditation schemes for disciplinary reasons. In a letter from CLG, written to the accreditation schemes and leaked to the website Home Inspectors Forum, CLG also announces tougher disciplinary procedures that will now face the schemes if they fail to uphold standards. There will now be spot checks and mystery shopping. According to one of the accreditation schemes, NHER, more than half its DEAs have lodged less than 75 EPCs. Separately, a leading EPC provider has warned that false economies are being made on 'cheap as chips' Domestic Energy Assessor (DEA) services and that it is unclear where the agent's liability stands, if the agent has commissioned the EPC. Greg Elliott, group operations director of Green Energy Matters, said cases are beginning to come through where the DEA has got it wrong. He said: "You can typically expect an out-of-court settlement of, say, £4,000 where an EPC stated that there was no double glazing when there was, or for £3,000 when the assessor got the type of boiler wrong." Elliott said that faults in the EPC might not come to light in time for householders to claim on the DEA's professional indemnity insurance. He warned that the insurance might have run out, and the DEA "might have gone back to teaching". Dodgy Energy Performance Certificates are being issued that are not worth the paper they are written on. They are 'strewn with schoolboy errors' and 'glaring omissions', according to Communities and Local Government, in a warning to the accreditation schemes that are meant to police the regime. CLG has accused the schemes of failing to catch unacceptable or invalid EPCs, and of allowing Domestic Energy Assessors (DEAs) to lodge reports when their membership has run out, or if they have been expelled from other accreditation schemes for disciplinary reasons. In a letter from CLG, written to the accreditation schemes and leaked to the website Home Inspectors Forum, CLG also announces tougher disciplinary procedures that will now face the schemes if they fail to uphold standards. There will now be spot checks and mystery shopping. According to one of the accreditation schemes, NHER, more than half its DEAs have lodged less than 75 EPCs. Separately, a leading EPC provider has warned that false economies are being made on 'cheap as chips' Domestic Energy Assessor (DEA) services and that it is unclear where the agent's liability stands, if the agent has commissioned the EPC. Greg Elliott, group operations director of Green Energy Matters, said cases are beginning to come through where the DEA has got it wrong. He said: "You can typically expect an out-of-court settlement of, say, £4,000 where an EPC stated that there was no double glazing when there was, or for £3,000 when the assessor got the type of boiler wrong." Elliott said that faults in the EPC might not come to light in time for householders to claim on the DEA's professional indemnity insurance. He warned that the insurance might have run out, and the DEA "might have gone back to teaching". Dodgy Energy Performance Certificates are being issued that are not worth the paper they are written on. They are 'strewn with schoolboy errors' and 'glaring omissions', according to Communities and Local Government, in a warning to the accreditation schemes that are meant to police the regime. CLG has accused the schemes of failing to catch unacceptable or invalid EPCs, and of allowing Domestic Energy Assessors (DEAs) to lodge reports when their membership has run out, or if they have been expelled from other accreditation schemes for disciplinary reasons. In a letter from CLG, written to the accreditation schemes and leaked to the website Home Inspectors Forum, CLG also announces tougher disciplinary procedures that will now face the schemes if they fail to uphold standards. There will now be spot checks and mystery shopping. According to one of the accreditation schemes, NHER, more than half its DEAs have lodged less than 75 EPCs. Separately, a leading EPC provider has warned that false economies are being made on 'cheap as chips' Domestic Energy Assessor (DEA) services and that it is unclear where the agent's liability stands, if the agent has commissioned the EPC. Greg Elliott, group operations director of Green Energy Matters, said cases are beginning to come through where the DEA has got it wrong. He said: "You can typically expect an out-of-court settlement of, say, £4,000 where an EPC stated that there was no double glazing when there was, or for £3,000 when the assessor got the type of boiler wrong." Elliott said that faults in the EPC might not come to light in time for householders to claim on the DEA's professional indemnity insurance. He warned that the insurance might have run out, and the DEA "might have gone back to teaching". Dodgy Energy Performance Certificates are being issued that are not worth the paper they are written on. They are 'strewn with schoolboy errors' and 'glaring omissions', according to Communities and Local Government, in a warning to the accreditation schemes that are meant to police the regime. CLG has accused the schemes of failing to catch unacceptable or invalid EPCs, and of allowing Domestic Energy Assessors (DEAs) to lodge reports when their membership has run out, or if they have been expelled from other accreditation schemes for disciplinary reasons. In a letter from CLG, written to the accreditation schemes and leaked to the website Home Inspectors Forum, CLG also announces tougher disciplinary procedures that will now face the schemes if they fail to uphold standards. There will now be spot checks and mystery shopping. According to one of the accreditation schemes, NHER, more than half its DEAs have lodged less than 75 EPCs. Separately, a leading EPC provider has warned that false economies are being made on 'cheap as chips' Domestic Energy Assessor (DEA) services and that it is unclear where the agent's liability stands, if the agent has commissioned the EPC. Greg Elliott, group operations director of Green Energy Matters, said cases are beginning to come through where the DEA has got it wrong. He said: "You can typically expect an out-of-court settlement of, say, £4,000 where an EPC stated that there was no double glazing when there was, or for £3,000 when the assessor got the type of boiler wrong." Elliott said that faults in the EPC might not come to light in time for householders to claim on the DEA's professional indemnity insurance. He warned that the insurance might have run out, and the DEA "might have gone back to teaching". Dodgy Energy Performance Certificates are being issued that are not worth the paper they are written on. They are 'strewn with schoolboy errors' and 'glaring omissions', according to Communities and Local Government, in a warning to the accreditation schemes that are meant to police the regime. CLG has accused the schemes of failing to catch unacceptable or invalid EPCs, and of allowing Domestic Energy Assessors (DEAs) to lodge reports when their membership has run out, or if they have been expelled from other accreditation schemes for disciplinary reasons. In a letter from CLG, written to the accreditation schemes and leaked to the website Home Inspectors Forum, CLG also announces tougher disciplinary procedures that will now face the schemes if they fail to uphold standards. There will now be spot checks and mystery shopping. According to one of the accreditation schemes, NHER, more than half its DEAs have lodged less than 75 EPCs. Separately, a leading EPC provider has warned that false economies are being made on 'cheap as chips' Domestic Energy Assessor (DEA) services and that it is unclear where the agent's liability stands, if the agent has commissioned the EPC. Greg Elliott, group operations director of Green Energy Matters, said cases are beginning to come through where the DEA has got it wrong. He said: "You can typically expect an out-of-court settlement of, say, £4,000 where an EPC stated that there was no double glazing when there was, or for £3,000 when the assessor got the type of boiler wrong." Elliott said that faults in the EPC might not come to light in time for householders to claim on the DEA's professional indemnity insurance. He warned that the insurance might have run out, and the DEA "might have gone back to teaching". Dodgy Energy Performance Certificates are being issued that are not worth the paper they are written on. They are 'strewn with schoolboy errors' and 'glaring omissions', according to Communities and Local Government, in a warning to the accreditation schemes that are meant to police the regime. CLG has accused the schemes of failing to catch unacceptable or invalid EPCs, and of allowing Domestic Energy Assessors (DEAs) to lodge reports when their membership has run out, or if they have been expelled from other accreditation schemes for disciplinary reasons. In a letter from CLG, written to the accreditation schemes and leaked to the website Home Inspectors Forum, CLG also announces tougher disciplinary procedures that will now face the schemes if they fail to uphold standards. There will now be spot checks and mystery shopping. According to one of the accreditation schemes, NHER, more than half its DEAs have lodged less than 75 EPCs. Separately, a leading EPC provider has warned that false economies are being made on 'cheap as chips' Domestic Energy Assessor (DEA) services and that it is unclear where the agent's liability stands, if the agent has commissioned the EPC. Greg Elliott, group operations director of Green Energy Matters, said cases are beginning to come through where the DEA has got it wrong. He said: "You can typically expect an out-of-court settlement of, say, £4,000 where an EPC stated that there was no double glazing when there was, or for £3,000 when the assessor got the type of boiler wrong." Elliott said that faults in the EPC might not come to light in time for householders to claim on the DEA's professional indemnity insurance. He warned that the insurance might have run out, and the DEA "might have gone back to teaching". Dodgy Energy Performance Certificates are being issued that are not worth the paper they are written on. They are 'strewn with schoolboy errors' and 'glaring omissions', according to Communities and Local Government, in a warning to the accreditation schemes that are meant to police the regime. CLG has accused the schemes of failing to catch unacceptable or invalid EPCs, and of allowing Domestic Energy Assessors (DEAs) to lodge reports when their membership has run out, or if they have been expelled from other accreditation schemes for disciplinary reasons. In a letter from CLG, written to the accreditation schemes and leaked to the website Home Inspectors Forum, CLG also announces tougher disciplinary procedures that will now face the schemes if they fail to uphold standards. There will now be spot checks and mystery shopping. According to one of the accreditation schemes, NHER, more than half its DEAs have lodged less than 75 EPCs. Separately, a leading EPC provider has warned that false economies are being made on 'cheap as chips' Domestic Energy Assessor (DEA) services and that it is unclear where the agent's liability stands, if the agent has commissioned the EPC. Greg Elliott, group operations director of Green Energy Matters, said cases are beginning to come through where the DEA has got it wrong. He said: "You can typically expect an out-of-court settlement of, say, £4,000 where an EPC stated that there was no double glazing when there was, or for £3,000 when the assessor got the type of boiler wrong." Elliott said that faults in the EPC might not come to light in time for householders to claim on the DEA's professional indemnity insurance. He warned that the insurance might have run out, and the DEA "might have gone back to teaching".
----------------------------------------
Current Market
After a flurry of initial doubts at the beginning of January about the end of the stamp duty holiday the market seems to have got over its uncertainty.
At last HIPS has been suspended.
We believed this was putting a break on the market especially for those vendors wishing to test the water. Some agents will claim that about 15% of their completions arise due to this class of client and it it can only be to the good if they return.
We know there are tax rises on the way but we knew that before the election so very little has changed.
Prices seem to have held firm in the last four months but the recent recovery has been built on a lack of supply which has brought prices up from perhaps "fire sale" levels.
If prices were to rise in the face of the next round of redundancies which will surely follow once the public sector review is compplete they will appear over inflated.
If prices stay steady buyers should still stay interested. The market needs to continue its balancing act since a mis-match could lead to a sharp revision.
------------------------------------------------
Do you think surveyors should have to rate services? The RICS does and yet surveyors are not qualified to inspect services in detail. Only GAS SAFE and ECA NICEIC etc contractors' operatives have the qualifications to do these things. The upshot is that unless the vendor has a complete set of up to date documents for gas and electricity the surveyor will be compelled to rate as condition 3 "Defects which are serious and/or need to be repaired, replaced or investigated urgently" in the Home Buyers Report and Valuation. Would you find this misleading or do you think it's fair. Before you answer (mgeorge@ricsonline.org) reflect upon the last time you had your gas and electric safety tested.
------------------------------------------------
Do you think surveyors should have to rate services? The RICS does and yet surveyors are not qualified to inspect services in detail. Only GAS SAFE and ECA NICEIC etc contractors' operatives have the qualifications to do these things. The upshot is that unless the vendor has a complete set of up to date documents for gas and electricity the surveyor will be compelled to rate as condition 3 "Defects which are serious and/or need to be repaired, replaced or investigated urgently" in the Home Buyers Report and Valuation. Would you find this misleading or do you think it's fair. Before you answer (mgeorge@ricsonline.org) reflect upon the last time you had your gas and electric safety tested.
------------------------------------------------
Do you think surveyors should have to rate services? The RICS does and yet surveyors are not qualified to inspect services in detail. Only GAS SAFE and ECA NICEIC etc contractors' operatives have the qualifications to do these things. The upshot is that unless the vendor has a complete set of up to date documents for gas and electricity the surveyor will be compelled to rate as condition 3 "Defects which are serious and/or need to be repaired, replaced or investigated urgently" in the Home Buyers Report and Valuation. Would you find this misleading or do you think it's fair. Before you answer (mgeorge@ricsonline.org) reflect upon the last time you had your gas and electric safety tested.
------------------------------------------------
Do you think surveyors should have to rate services? The RICS does and yet surveyors are not qualified to inspect services in detail. Only GAS SAFE and ECA NICEIC etc contractors' operatives have the qualifications to do these things. The upshot is that unless the vendor has a complete set of up to date documents for gas and electricity the surveyor will be compelled to rate as condition 3 "Defects which are serious and/or need to be repaired, replaced or investigated urgently" in the Home Buyers Report and Valuation. Would you find this misleading or do you think it's fair. Before you answer (mgeorge@ricsonline.org) reflect upon the last time you had your gas and electric safety tested.
------------------------------------------------
Do you think surveyors should have to rate services? The RICS does and yet surveyors are not qualified to inspect services in detail. Only GAS SAFE and ECA NICEIC etc contractors' operatives have the qualifications to do these things. The upshot is that unless the vendor has a complete set of up to date documents for gas and electricity the surveyor will be compelled to rate as condition 3 "Defects which are serious and/or need to be repaired, replaced or investigated urgently" in the Home Buyers Report and Valuation. Would you find this misleading or do you think it's fair. Before you answer (mgeorge@ricsonline.org) reflect upon the last time you had your gas and electric safety tested.
------------------------------------------------
Do you think surveyors should have to rate services? The RICS does and yet surveyors are not qualified to inspect services in detail. Only GAS SAFE and ECA NICEIC etc contractors' operatives have the qualifications to do these things. The upshot is that unless the vendor has a complete set of up to date documents for gas and electricity the surveyor will be compelled to rate as condition 3 "Defects which are serious and/or need to be repaired, replaced or investigated urgently" in the Home Buyers Report and Valuation. Would you find this misleading or do you think it's fair. Before you answer (mgeorge@ricsonline.org) reflect upon the last time you had your gas and electric safety tested.
------------------------------------------------
Do you think surveyors should have to rate services? The RICS does and yet surveyors are not qualified to inspect services in detail. Only GAS SAFE and ECA NICEIC etc contractors' operatives have the qualifications to do these things. The upshot is that unless the vendor has a complete set of up to date documents for gas and electricity the surveyor will be compelled to rate as condition 3 "Defects which are serious and/or need to be repaired, replaced or investigated urgently" in the Home Buyers Report and Valuation. Would you find this misleading or do you think it's fair. Before you answer (mgeorge@ricsonline.org) reflect upon the last time you had your gas and electric safety tested.
Current Market
After a flurry of initial doubts at the beginning of January about the end of the stamp duty holiday the market seems to have got over its uncertainty.
At last HIPS has been suspended.
We believed this was putting a break on the market especially for those vendors wishing to test the water. Some agents will claim that about 15% of their completions arise due to this class of client and it it can only be to the good if they return.
We know there are tax rises on the way but we knew that before the election so very little has changed.
Prices seem to have held firm in the last four months but the recent recovery has been built on a lack of supply which has brought prices up from perhaps "fire sale" levels.
If prices were to rise in the face of the next round of redundancies which will surely follow once the public sector review is compplete they will appear over inflated.
If prices stay steady buyers should still stay interested. The market needs to continue its balancing act since a mis-match could lead to a sharp revision.
EPCs are 'strewn with schoolboy errors'
I say "Frankly what can you expect when you hand a complex property task to people with little or no property experience"- read on
Monday 11th January 2010 Dodgy Energy Performance Certificates are being issued that are not worth the paper they are written on. They are 'strewn with schoolboy errors' and 'glaring omissions', according to Communities and Local Government, in a warning to the accreditation schemes that are meant to police the regime. CLG has accused the schemes of failing to catch unacceptable or invalid EPCs, and of allowing Domestic Energy Assessors (DEAs) to lodge reports when their membership has run out, or if they have been expelled from other accreditation schemes for disciplinary reasons. In a letter from CLG, written to the accreditation schemes and leaked to the website Home Inspectors Forum, CLG also announces tougher disciplinary procedures that will now face the schemes if they fail to uphold standards. There will now be spot checks and mystery shopping. According to one of the accreditation schemes, NHER, more than half its DEAs have lodged less than 75 EPCs. Separately, a leading EPC provider has warned that false economies are being made on 'cheap as chips' Domestic Energy Assessor (DEA) services and that it is unclear where the agent's liability stands, if the agent has commissioned the EPC. Greg Elliott, group operations director of Green Energy Matters, said cases are beginning to come through where the DEA has got it wrong. He said: "You can typically expect an out-of-court settlement of, say, £4,000 where an EPC stated that there was no double glazing when there was, or for £3,000 when the assessor got the type of boiler wrong." Elliott said that faults in the EPC might not come to light in time for householders to claim on the DEA's professional indemnity insurance. He warned that the insurance might have run out, and the DEA "might have gone back to teaching".
------------------------------------------------
Do you think surveyors should have to rate services? The RICS does and yet surveyors are not qualified to inspect services in detail. Only GAS SAFE and ECA NICEIC etc contractors' operatives have the qualifications to do these things. The upshot is that unless the vendor has a complete set of up to date documents for gas and electricity the surveyor will be compelled to rate as condition 3 "Defects which are serious and/or need to be repaired, replaced or investigated urgently" in the Home Buyers Report and Valuation. Would you find this misleading or do you think it's fair. Before you answer (mgeorge@ricsonline.org) reflect upon the last time you had your gas and electric safety tested.
Dodgy Energy Performance Certificates are being issued that are not worth the paper they are written on.
They are 'strewn with schoolboy errors' and 'glaring omissions', according to Communities and Local Government, in a warning to the accreditation schemes that are meant to police the regime.
CLG has accused the schemes of failing to catch unacceptable or invalid EPCs, and of allowing Domestic Energy Assessors (DEAs) to lodge reports when their membership has run out, or if they have been expelled from other accreditation schemes for disciplinary reasons.
In a letter from CLG, written to the accreditation schemes and leaked to the website Home Inspectors Forum, CLG also announces tougher disciplinary procedures that will now face the schemes if they fail to uphold standards.
There will now be spot checks and mystery shopping.
According to one of the accreditation schemes, NHER, more than half its DEAs have lodged less than 75 EPCs.
Separately, a leading EPC provider has warned that false economies are being made on 'cheap as chips' Domestic Energy Assessor (DEA) services and that it is unclear where the agent's liability stands, if the agent has commissioned the EPC.
Greg Elliott, group operations director of Green Energy Matters, said cases are beginning to come through where the DEA has got it wrong.
He said: "You can typically expect an out-of-court settlement of, say, £4,000 where an EPC stated that there was no double glazing when there was, or for £3,000 when the assessor got the type of boiler wrong."
Elliott said that faults in the EPC might not come to light in time for householders to claim on the DEA's professional indemnity insurance. He warned that the insurance might have run out, and the DEA "might have gone back to teaching".
------------------------------------------------
Do you think surveyors should have to rate services? The RICS does and yet surveyors are not qualified to inspect services in detail. Only GAS SAFE and ECA NICEIC etc contractors' operatives have the qualifications to do these things. The upshot is that unless the vendor has a complete set of up to date documents for gas and electricity the surveyor will be compelled to rate as condition 3 "Defects which are serious and/or need to be repaired, replaced or investigated urgently" in the Home Buyers Report and Valuation. Would you find this misleading or do you think it's fair. Before you answer (mgeorge@ricsonline.org) reflect upon the last time you had your gas and electric safety tested.
Dodgy Energy Performance Certificates are being issued that are not worth the paper they are written on.
They are 'strewn with schoolboy errors' and 'glaring omissions', according to Communities and Local Government, in a warning to the accreditation schemes that are meant to police the regime.
CLG has accused the schemes of failing to catch unacceptable or invalid EPCs, and of allowing Domestic Energy Assessors (DEAs) to lodge reports when their membership has run out, or if they have been expelled from other accreditation schemes for disciplinary reasons.
In a letter from CLG, written to the accreditation schemes and leaked to the website Home Inspectors Forum, CLG also announces tougher disciplinary procedures that will now face the schemes if they fail to uphold standards.
There will now be spot checks and mystery shopping.
According to one of the accreditation schemes, NHER, more than half its DEAs have lodged less than 75 EPCs.
Separately, a leading EPC provider has warned that false economies are being made on 'cheap as chips' Domestic Energy Assessor (DEA) services and that it is unclear where the agent's liability stands, if the agent has commissioned the EPC.
Greg Elliott, group operations director of Green Energy Matters, said cases are beginning to come through where the DEA has got it wrong.
He said: "You can typically expect an out-of-court settlement of, say, £4,000 where an EPC stated that there was no double glazing when there was, or for £3,000 when the assessor got the type of boiler wrong."
Elliott said that faults in the EPC might not come to light in time for householders to claim on the DEA's professional indemnity insurance. He warned that the insurance might have run out, and the DEA "might have gone back to teaching".
------------------------------------------------
Do you think surveyors should have to rate services? The RICS does and yet surveyors are not qualified to inspect services in detail. Only GAS SAFE and ECA NICEIC etc contractors' operatives have the qualifications to do these things. The upshot is that unless the vendor has a complete set of up to date documents for gas and electricity the surveyor will be compelled to rate as condition 3 "Defects which are serious and/or need to be repaired, replaced or investigated urgently" in the Home Buyers Report and Valuation. Would you find this misleading or do you think it's fair. Before you answer (mgeorge@ricsonline.org) reflect upon the last time you had your gas and electric safety tested.
Dodgy Energy Performance Certificates are being issued that are not worth the paper they are written on.
They are 'strewn with schoolboy errors' and 'glaring omissions', according to Communities and Local Government, in a warning to the accreditation schemes that are meant to police the regime.
CLG has accused the schemes of failing to catch unacceptable or invalid EPCs, and of allowing Domestic Energy Assessors (DEAs) to lodge reports when their membership has run out, or if they have been expelled from other accreditation schemes for disciplinary reasons.
In a letter from CLG, written to the accreditation schemes and leaked to the website Home Inspectors Forum, CLG also announces tougher disciplinary procedures that will now face the schemes if they fail to uphold standards.
There will now be spot checks and mystery shopping.
According to one of the accreditation schemes, NHER, more than half its DEAs have lodged less than 75 EPCs.
Separately, a leading EPC provider has warned that false economies are being made on 'cheap as chips' Domestic Energy Assessor (DEA) services and that it is unclear where the agent's liability stands, if the agent has commissioned the EPC.
Greg Elliott, group operations director of Green Energy Matters, said cases are beginning to come through where the DEA has got it wrong.
He said: "You can typically expect an out-of-court settlement of, say, £4,000 where an EPC stated that there was no double glazing when there was, or for £3,000 when the assessor got the type of boiler wrong."
Elliott said that faults in the EPC might not come to light in time for householders to claim on the DEA's professional indemnity insurance. He warned that the insurance might have run out, and the DEA "might have gone back to teaching".
------------------------------------------------
Do you think surveyors should have to rate services? The RICS does and yet surveyors are not qualified to inspect services in detail. Only GAS SAFE and ECA NICEIC etc contractors' operatives have the qualifications to do these things. The upshot is that unless the vendor has a complete set of up to date documents for gas and electricity the surveyor will be compelled to rate as condition 3 "Defects which are serious and/or need to be repaired, replaced or investigated urgently" in the Home Buyers Report and Valuation. Would you find this misleading or do you think it's fair. Before you answer (mgeorge@ricsonline.org) reflect upon the last time you had your gas and electric safety tested.
Dodgy Energy Performance Certificates are being issued that are not worth the paper they are written on.
They are 'strewn with schoolboy errors' and 'glaring omissions', according to Communities and Local Government, in a warning to the accreditation schemes that are meant to police the regime.
CLG has accused the schemes of failing to catch unacceptable or invalid EPCs, and of allowing Domestic Energy Assessors (DEAs) to lodge reports when their membership has run out, or if they have been expelled from other accreditation schemes for disciplinary reasons.
In a letter from CLG, written to the accreditation schemes and leaked to the website Home Inspectors Forum, CLG also announces tougher disciplinary procedures that will now face the schemes if they fail to uphold standards.
There will now be spot checks and mystery shopping.
According to one of the accreditation schemes, NHER, more than half its DEAs have lodged less than 75 EPCs.
Separately, a leading EPC provider has warned that false economies are being made on 'cheap as chips' Domestic Energy Assessor (DEA) services and that it is unclear where the agent's liability stands, if the agent has commissioned the EPC.
Greg Elliott, group operations director of Green Energy Matters, said cases are beginning to come through where the DEA has got it wrong.
He said: "You can typically expect an out-of-court settlement of, say, £4,000 where an EPC stated that there was no double glazing when there was, or for £3,000 when the assessor got the type of boiler wrong."
Elliott said that faults in the EPC might not come to light in time for householders to claim on the DEA's professional indemnity insurance. He warned that the insurance might have run out, and the DEA "might have gone back to teaching".
------------------------------------------------
Do you think surveyors should have to rate services? The RICS does and yet surveyors are not qualified to inspect services in detail. Only GAS SAFE and ECA NICEIC etc contractors' operatives have the qualifications to do these things. The upshot is that unless the vendor has a complete set of up to date documents for gas and electricity the surveyor will be compelled to rate as condition 3 "Defects which are serious and/or need to be repaired, replaced or investigated urgently" in the Home Buyers Report and Valuation. Would you find this misleading or do you think it's fair. Before you answer (mgeorge@ricsonline.org) reflect upon the last time you had your gas and electric safety tested.
Dodgy Energy Performance Certificates are being issued that are not worth the paper they are written on.
They are 'strewn with schoolboy errors' and 'glaring omissions', according to Communities and Local Government, in a warning to the accreditation schemes that are meant to police the regime.
CLG has accused the schemes of failing to catch unacceptable or invalid EPCs, and of allowing Domestic Energy Assessors (DEAs) to lodge reports when their membership has run out, or if they have been expelled from other accreditation schemes for disciplinary reasons.
In a letter from CLG, written to the accreditation schemes and leaked to the website Home Inspectors Forum, CLG also announces tougher disciplinary procedures that will now face the schemes if they fail to uphold standards.
There will now be spot checks and mystery shopping.
According to one of the accreditation schemes, NHER, more than half its DEAs have lodged less than 75 EPCs.
Separately, a leading EPC provider has warned that false economies are being made on 'cheap as chips' Domestic Energy Assessor (DEA) services and that it is unclear where the agent's liability stands, if the agent has commissioned the EPC.
Greg Elliott, group operations director of Green Energy Matters, said cases are beginning to come through where the DEA has got it wrong.
He said: "You can typically expect an out-of-court settlement of, say, £4,000 where an EPC stated that there was no double glazing when there was, or for £3,000 when the assessor got the type of boiler wrong."
Elliott said that faults in the EPC might not come to light in time for householders to claim on the DEA's professional indemnity insurance. He warned that the insurance might have run out, and the DEA "might have gone back to teaching".
------------------------------------------------
Do you think surveyors should have to rate services? The RICS does and yet surveyors are not qualified to inspect services in detail. Only GAS SAFE and ECA NICEIC etc contractors' operatives have the qualifications to do these things. The upshot is that unless the vendor has a complete set of up to date documents for gas and electricity the surveyor will be compelled to rate as condition 3 "Defects which are serious and/or need to be repaired, replaced or investigated urgently" in the Home Buyers Report and Valuation. Would you find this misleading or do you think it's fair. Before you answer (mgeorge@ricsonline.org) reflect upon the last time you had your gas and electric safety tested.
Dodgy Energy Performance Certificates are being issued that are not worth the paper they are written on.
They are 'strewn with schoolboy errors' and 'glaring omissions', according to Communities and Local Government, in a warning to the accreditation schemes that are meant to police the regime.
CLG has accused the schemes of failing to catch unacceptable or invalid EPCs, and of allowing Domestic Energy Assessors (DEAs) to lodge reports when their membership has run out, or if they have been expelled from other accreditation schemes for disciplinary reasons.
In a letter from CLG, written to the accreditation schemes and leaked to the website Home Inspectors Forum, CLG also announces tougher disciplinary procedures that will now face the schemes if they fail to uphold standards.
There will now be spot checks and mystery shopping.
According to one of the accreditation schemes, NHER, more than half its DEAs have lodged less than 75 EPCs.
Separately, a leading EPC provider has warned that false economies are being made on 'cheap as chips' Domestic Energy Assessor (DEA) services and that it is unclear where the agent's liability stands, if the agent has commissioned the EPC.
Greg Elliott, group operations director of Green Energy Matters, said cases are beginning to come through where the DEA has got it wrong.
He said: "You can typically expect an out-of-court settlement of, say, £4,000 where an EPC stated that there was no double glazing when there was, or for £3,000 when the assessor got the type of boiler wrong."
Elliott said that faults in the EPC might not come to light in time for householders to claim on the DEA's professional indemnity insurance. He warned that the insurance might have run out, and the DEA "might have gone back to teaching".
------------------------------------------------
Do you think surveyors should have to rate services? The RICS does and yet surveyors are not qualified to inspect services in detail. Only GAS SAFE and ECA NICEIC etc contractors' operatives have the qualifications to do these things. The upshot is that unless the vendor has a complete set of up to date documents for gas and electricity the surveyor will be compelled to rate as condition 3 "Defects which are serious and/or need to be repaired, replaced or investigated urgently" in the Home Buyers Report and Valuation. Would you find this misleading or do you think it's fair. Before you answer (mgeorge@ricsonline.org) reflect upon the last time you had your gas and electric safety tested.
Current Market
After a flurry of initial doubts at the beginning of January about the end of the stamp duty holiday the market seems to have got over its uncertainty.
At last HIPS has been suspended.
We believed this was putting a break on the market especially for those vendors wishing to test the water. Some agents will claim that about 15% of their completions arise due to this class of client and it it can only be to the good if they return.
We know there are tax rises on the way but we knew that before the election so very little has changed.
Prices seem to have held firm in the last four months but the recent recovery has been built on a lack of supply which has brought prices up from perhaps "fire sale" levels.
If prices were to rise in the face of the next round of redundancies which will surely follow once the public sector review is compplete they will appear over inflated.
If prices stay steady buyers should still stay interested. The market needs to continue its balancing act since a mis-match could lead to a sharp revision.
EPCs are 'strewn with schoolboy errors'
I say "Frankly what can you expect when you hand a complex property task to people with little or no property experience"- read on
Monday 11th January 2010 Dodgy Energy Performance Certificates are being issued that are not worth the paper they are written on. They are 'strewn with schoolboy errors' and 'glaring omissions', according to Communities and Local Government, in a warning to the accreditation schemes that are meant to police the regime. CLG has accused the schemes of failing to catch unacceptable or invalid EPCs, and of allowing Domestic Energy Assessors (DEAs) to lodge reports when their membership has run out, or if they have been expelled from other accreditation schemes for disciplinary reasons. In a letter from CLG, written to the accreditation schemes and leaked to the website Home Inspectors Forum, CLG also announces tougher disciplinary procedures that will now face the schemes if they fail to uphold standards. There will now be spot checks and mystery shopping. According to one of the accreditation schemes, NHER, more than half its DEAs have lodged less than 75 EPCs. Separately, a leading EPC provider has warned that false economies are being made on 'cheap as chips' Domestic Energy Assessor (DEA) services and that it is unclear where the agent's liability stands, if the agent has commissioned the EPC. Greg Elliott, group operations director of Green Energy Matters, said cases are beginning to come through where the DEA has got it wrong. He said: "You can typically expect an out-of-court settlement of, say, £4,000 where an EPC stated that there was no double glazing when there was, or for £3,000 when the assessor got the type of boiler wrong." Elliott said that faults in the EPC might not come to light in time for householders to claim on the DEA's professional indemnity insurance. He warned that the insurance might have run out, and the DEA "might have gone back to teaching".
------------------------------------------------
Do you think surveyors should have to rate services? The RICS does and yet surveyors are not qualified to inspect services in detail. Only GAS SAFE and ECA NICEIC etc contractors' operatives have the qualifications to do these things. The upshot is that unless the vendor has a complete set of up to date documents for gas and electricity the surveyor will be compelled to rate as condition 3 "Defects which are serious and/or need to be repaired, replaced or investigated urgently" in the Home Buyers Report and Valuation. Would you find this misleading or do you think it's fair. Before you answer (mgeorge@ricsonline.org) reflect upon the last time you had your gas and electric safety tested.
Dodgy Energy Performance Certificates are being issued that are not worth the paper they are written on.
They are 'strewn with schoolboy errors' and 'glaring omissions', according to Communities and Local Government, in a warning to the accreditation schemes that are meant to police the regime.
CLG has accused the schemes of failing to catch unacceptable or invalid EPCs, and of allowing Domestic Energy Assessors (DEAs) to lodge reports when their membership has run out, or if they have been expelled from other accreditation schemes for disciplinary reasons.
In a letter from CLG, written to the accreditation schemes and leaked to the website Home Inspectors Forum, CLG also announces tougher disciplinary procedures that will now face the schemes if they fail to uphold standards.
There will now be spot checks and mystery shopping.
According to one of the accreditation schemes, NHER, more than half its DEAs have lodged less than 75 EPCs.
Separately, a leading EPC provider has warned that false economies are being made on 'cheap as chips' Domestic Energy Assessor (DEA) services and that it is unclear where the agent's liability stands, if the agent has commissioned the EPC.
Greg Elliott, group operations director of Green Energy Matters, said cases are beginning to come through where the DEA has got it wrong.
He said: "You can typically expect an out-of-court settlement of, say, £4,000 where an EPC stated that there was no double glazing when there was, or for £3,000 when the assessor got the type of boiler wrong."
Elliott said that faults in the EPC might not come to light in time for householders to claim on the DEA's professional indemnity insurance. He warned that the insurance might have run out, and the DEA "might have gone back to teaching".
------------------------------------------------
Do you think surveyors should have to rate services? The RICS does and yet surveyors are not qualified to inspect services in detail. Only GAS SAFE and ECA NICEIC etc contractors' operatives have the qualifications to do these things. The upshot is that unless the vendor has a complete set of up to date documents for gas and electricity the surveyor will be compelled to rate as condition 3 "Defects which are serious and/or need to be repaired, replaced or investigated urgently" in the Home Buyers Report and Valuation. Would you find this misleading or do you think it's fair. Before you answer (mgeorge@ricsonline.org) reflect upon the last time you had your gas and electric safety tested.
Dodgy Energy Performance Certificates are being issued that are not worth the paper they are written on.
They are 'strewn with schoolboy errors' and 'glaring omissions', according to Communities and Local Government, in a warning to the accreditation schemes that are meant to police the regime.
CLG has accused the schemes of failing to catch unacceptable or invalid EPCs, and of allowing Domestic Energy Assessors (DEAs) to lodge reports when their membership has run out, or if they have been expelled from other accreditation schemes for disciplinary reasons.
In a letter from CLG, written to the accreditation schemes and leaked to the website Home Inspectors Forum, CLG also announces tougher disciplinary procedures that will now face the schemes if they fail to uphold standards.
There will now be spot checks and mystery shopping.
According to one of the accreditation schemes, NHER, more than half its DEAs have lodged less than 75 EPCs.
Separately, a leading EPC provider has warned that false economies are being made on 'cheap as chips' Domestic Energy Assessor (DEA) services and that it is unclear where the agent's liability stands, if the agent has commissioned the EPC.
Greg Elliott, group operations director of Green Energy Matters, said cases are beginning to come through where the DEA has got it wrong.
He said: "You can typically expect an out-of-court settlement of, say, £4,000 where an EPC stated that there was no double glazing when there was, or for £3,000 when the assessor got the type of boiler wrong."
Elliott said that faults in the EPC might not come to light in time for householders to claim on the DEA's professional indemnity insurance. He warned that the insurance might have run out, and the DEA "might have gone back to teaching".
------------------------------------------------
Do you think surveyors should have to rate services? The RICS does and yet surveyors are not qualified to inspect services in detail. Only GAS SAFE and ECA NICEIC etc contractors' operatives have the qualifications to do these things. The upshot is that unless the vendor has a complete set of up to date documents for gas and electricity the surveyor will be compelled to rate as condition 3 "Defects which are serious and/or need to be repaired, replaced or investigated urgently" in the Home Buyers Report and Valuation. Would you find this misleading or do you think it's fair. Before you answer (mgeorge@ricsonline.org) reflect upon the last time you had your gas and electric safety tested.
Dodgy Energy Performance Certificates are being issued that are not worth the paper they are written on.
They are 'strewn with schoolboy errors' and 'glaring omissions', according to Communities and Local Government, in a warning to the accreditation schemes that are meant to police the regime.
CLG has accused the schemes of failing to catch unacceptable or invalid EPCs, and of allowing Domestic Energy Assessors (DEAs) to lodge reports when their membership has run out, or if they have been expelled from other accreditation schemes for disciplinary reasons.
In a letter from CLG, written to the accreditation schemes and leaked to the website Home Inspectors Forum, CLG also announces tougher disciplinary procedures that will now face the schemes if they fail to uphold standards.
There will now be spot checks and mystery shopping.
According to one of the accreditation schemes, NHER, more than half its DEAs have lodged less than 75 EPCs.
Separately, a leading EPC provider has warned that false economies are being made on 'cheap as chips' Domestic Energy Assessor (DEA) services and that it is unclear where the agent's liability stands, if the agent has commissioned the EPC.
Greg Elliott, group operations director of Green Energy Matters, said cases are beginning to come through where the DEA has got it wrong.
He said: "You can typically expect an out-of-court settlement of, say, £4,000 where an EPC stated that there was no double glazing when there was, or for £3,000 when the assessor got the type of boiler wrong."
Elliott said that faults in the EPC might not come to light in time for householders to claim on the DEA's professional indemnity insurance. He warned that the insurance might have run out, and the DEA "might have gone back to teaching".
------------------------------------------------
Do you think surveyors should have to rate services? The RICS does and yet surveyors are not qualified to inspect services in detail. Only GAS SAFE and ECA NICEIC etc contractors' operatives have the qualifications to do these things. The upshot is that unless the vendor has a complete set of up to date documents for gas and electricity the surveyor will be compelled to rate as condition 3 "Defects which are serious and/or need to be repaired, replaced or investigated urgently" in the Home Buyers Report and Valuation. Would you find this misleading or do you think it's fair. Before you answer (mgeorge@ricsonline.org) reflect upon the last time you had your gas and electric safety tested.
Dodgy Energy Performance Certificates are being issued that are not worth the paper they are written on.
They are 'strewn with schoolboy errors' and 'glaring omissions', according to Communities and Local Government, in a warning to the accreditation schemes that are meant to police the regime.
CLG has accused the schemes of failing to catch unacceptable or invalid EPCs, and of allowing Domestic Energy Assessors (DEAs) to lodge reports when their membership has run out, or if they have been expelled from other accreditation schemes for disciplinary reasons.
In a letter from CLG, written to the accreditation schemes and leaked to the website Home Inspectors Forum, CLG also announces tougher disciplinary procedures that will now face the schemes if they fail to uphold standards.
There will now be spot checks and mystery shopping.
According to one of the accreditation schemes, NHER, more than half its DEAs have lodged less than 75 EPCs.
Separately, a leading EPC provider has warned that false economies are being made on 'cheap as chips' Domestic Energy Assessor (DEA) services and that it is unclear where the agent's liability stands, if the agent has commissioned the EPC.
Greg Elliott, group operations director of Green Energy Matters, said cases are beginning to come through where the DEA has got it wrong.
He said: "You can typically expect an out-of-court settlement of, say, £4,000 where an EPC stated that there was no double glazing when there was, or for £3,000 when the assessor got the type of boiler wrong."
Elliott said that faults in the EPC might not come to light in time for householders to claim on the DEA's professional indemnity insurance. He warned that the insurance might have run out, and the DEA "might have gone back to teaching".
------------------------------------------------
Do you think surveyors should have to rate services? The RICS does and yet surveyors are not qualified to inspect services in detail. Only GAS SAFE and ECA NICEIC etc contractors' operatives have the qualifications to do these things. The upshot is that unless the vendor has a complete set of up to date documents for gas and electricity the surveyor will be compelled to rate as condition 3 "Defects which are serious and/or need to be repaired, replaced or investigated urgently" in the Home Buyers Report and Valuation. Would you find this misleading or do you think it's fair. Before you answer (mgeorge@ricsonline.org) reflect upon the last time you had your gas and electric safety tested.
Dodgy Energy Performance Certificates are being issued that are not worth the paper they are written on.
They are 'strewn with schoolboy errors' and 'glaring omissions', according to Communities and Local Government, in a warning to the accreditation schemes that are meant to police the regime.
CLG has accused the schemes of failing to catch unacceptable or invalid EPCs, and of allowing Domestic Energy Assessors (DEAs) to lodge reports when their membership has run out, or if they have been expelled from other accreditation schemes for disciplinary reasons.
In a letter from CLG, written to the accreditation schemes and leaked to the website Home Inspectors Forum, CLG also announces tougher disciplinary procedures that will now face the schemes if they fail to uphold standards.
There will now be spot checks and mystery shopping.
According to one of the accreditation schemes, NHER, more than half its DEAs have lodged less than 75 EPCs.
Separately, a leading EPC provider has warned that false economies are being made on 'cheap as chips' Domestic Energy Assessor (DEA) services and that it is unclear where the agent's liability stands, if the agent has commissioned the EPC.
Greg Elliott, group operations director of Green Energy Matters, said cases are beginning to come through where the DEA has got it wrong.
He said: "You can typically expect an out-of-court settlement of, say, £4,000 where an EPC stated that there was no double glazing when there was, or for £3,000 when the assessor got the type of boiler wrong."
Elliott said that faults in the EPC might not come to light in time for householders to claim on the DEA's professional indemnity insurance. He warned that the insurance might have run out, and the DEA "might have gone back to teaching".
------------------------------------------------
Do you think surveyors should have to rate services? The RICS does and yet surveyors are not qualified to inspect services in detail. Only GAS SAFE and ECA NICEIC etc contractors' operatives have the qualifications to do these things. The upshot is that unless the vendor has a complete set of up to date documents for gas and electricity the surveyor will be compelled to rate as condition 3 "Defects which are serious and/or need to be repaired, replaced or investigated urgently" in the Home Buyers Report and Valuation. Would you find this misleading or do you think it's fair. Before you answer (mgeorge@ricsonline.org) reflect upon the last time you had your gas and electric safety tested.
Dodgy Energy Performance Certificates are being issued that are not worth the paper they are written on.
They are 'strewn with schoolboy errors' and 'glaring omissions', according to Communities and Local Government, in a warning to the accreditation schemes that are meant to police the regime.
CLG has accused the schemes of failing to catch unacceptable or invalid EPCs, and of allowing Domestic Energy Assessors (DEAs) to lodge reports when their membership has run out, or if they have been expelled from other accreditation schemes for disciplinary reasons.
In a letter from CLG, written to the accreditation schemes and leaked to the website Home Inspectors Forum, CLG also announces tougher disciplinary procedures that will now face the schemes if they fail to uphold standards.
There will now be spot checks and mystery shopping.
According to one of the accreditation schemes, NHER, more than half its DEAs have lodged less than 75 EPCs.
Separately, a leading EPC provider has warned that false economies are being made on 'cheap as chips' Domestic Energy Assessor (DEA) services and that it is unclear where the agent's liability stands, if the agent has commissioned the EPC.
Greg Elliott, group operations director of Green Energy Matters, said cases are beginning to come through where the DEA has got it wrong.
He said: "You can typically expect an out-of-court settlement of, say, £4,000 where an EPC stated that there was no double glazing when there was, or for £3,000 when the assessor got the type of boiler wrong."
Elliott said that faults in the EPC might not come to light in time for householders to claim on the DEA's professional indemnity insurance. He warned that the insurance might have run out, and the DEA "might have gone back to teaching".
------------------------------------------------
Do you think surveyors should have to rate services? The RICS does and yet surveyors are not qualified to inspect services in detail. Only GAS SAFE and ECA NICEIC etc contractors' operatives have the qualifications to do these things. The upshot is that unless the vendor has a complete set of up to date documents for gas and electricity the surveyor will be compelled to rate as condition 3 "Defects which are serious and/or need to be repaired, replaced or investigated urgently" in the Home Buyers Report and Valuation. Would you find this misleading or do you think it's fair. Before you answer (mgeorge@ricsonline.org) reflect upon the last time you had your gas and electric safety tested.
Current Market
After a flurry of initial doubts at the beginning of January about the end of the stamp duty holiday the market seems to have got over its uncertainty.
At last HIPS has been suspended.
We believed this was putting a break on the market especially for those vendors wishing to test the water. Some agents will claim that about 15% of their completions arise due to this class of client and it it can only be to the good if they return.
We know there are tax rises on the way but we knew that before the election so very little has changed.
Prices seem to have held firm in the last four months but the recent recovery has been built on a lack of supply which has brought prices up from perhaps "fire sale" levels.
If prices were to rise in the face of the next round of redundancies which will surely follow once the public sector review is compplete they will appear over inflated.
If prices stay steady buyers should still stay interested. The market needs to continue its balancing act since a mis-match could lead to a sharp revision.
EPCs are 'strewn with schoolboy errors'
I say "Frankly what can you expect when you hand a complex property task to people with little or no property experience"- read on
Monday 11th January 2010 Dodgy Energy Performance Certificates are being issued that are not worth the paper they are written on. They are 'strewn with schoolboy errors' and 'glaring omissions', according to Communities and Local Government, in a warning to the accreditation schemes that are meant to police the regime. CLG has accused the schemes of failing to catch unacceptable or invalid EPCs, and of allowing Domestic Energy Assessors (DEAs) to lodge reports when their membership has run out, or if they have been expelled from other accreditation schemes for disciplinary reasons. In a letter from CLG, written to the accreditation schemes and leaked to the website Home Inspectors Forum, CLG also announces tougher disciplinary procedures that will now face the schemes if they fail to uphold standards. There will now be spot checks and mystery shopping. According to one of the accreditation schemes, NHER, more than half its DEAs have lodged less than 75 EPCs. Separately, a leading EPC provider has warned that false economies are being made on 'cheap as chips' Domestic Energy Assessor (DEA) services and that it is unclear where the agent's liability stands, if the agent has commissioned the EPC. Greg Elliott, group operations director of Green Energy Matters, said cases are beginning to come through where the DEA has got it wrong. He said: "You can typically expect an out-of-court settlement of, say, £4,000 where an EPC stated that there was no double glazing when there was, or for £3,000 when the assessor got the type of boiler wrong." Elliott said that faults in the EPC might not come to light in time for householders to claim on the DEA's professional indemnity insurance. He warned that the insurance might have run out, and the DEA "might have gone back to teaching".
------------------------------------------------
Do you think surveyors should have to rate services? The RICS does and yet surveyors are not qualified to inspect services in detail. Only GAS SAFE and ECA NICEIC etc contractors' operatives have the qualifications to do these things. The upshot is that unless the vendor has a complete set of up to date documents for gas and electricity the surveyor will be compelled to rate as condition 3 "Defects which are serious and/or need to be repaired, replaced or investigated urgently" in the Home Buyers Report and Valuation. Would you find this misleading or do you think it's fair. Before you answer (mgeorge@ricsonline.org) reflect upon the last time you had your gas and electric safety tested.
Dodgy Energy Performance Certificates are being issued that are not worth the paper they are written on.
They are 'strewn with schoolboy errors' and 'glaring omissions', according to Communities and Local Government, in a warning to the accreditation schemes that are meant to police the regime.
CLG has accused the schemes of failing to catch unacceptable or invalid EPCs, and of allowing Domestic Energy Assessors (DEAs) to lodge reports when their membership has run out, or if they have been expelled from other accreditation schemes for disciplinary reasons.
In a letter from CLG, written to the accreditation schemes and leaked to the website Home Inspectors Forum, CLG also announces tougher disciplinary procedures that will now face the schemes if they fail to uphold standards.
There will now be spot checks and mystery shopping.
According to one of the accreditation schemes, NHER, more than half its DEAs have lodged less than 75 EPCs.
Separately, a leading EPC provider has warned that false economies are being made on 'cheap as chips' Domestic Energy Assessor (DEA) services and that it is unclear where the agent's liability stands, if the agent has commissioned the EPC.
Greg Elliott, group operations director of Green Energy Matters, said cases are beginning to come through where the DEA has got it wrong.
He said: "You can typically expect an out-of-court settlement of, say, £4,000 where an EPC stated that there was no double glazing when there was, or for £3,000 when the assessor got the type of boiler wrong."
Elliott said that faults in the EPC might not come to light in time for householders to claim on the DEA's professional indemnity insurance. He warned that the insurance might have run out, and the DEA "might have gone back to teaching".
------------------------------------------------
Do you think surveyors should have to rate services? The RICS does and yet surveyors are not qualified to inspect services in detail. Only GAS SAFE and ECA NICEIC etc contractors' operatives have the qualifications to do these things. The upshot is that unless the vendor has a complete set of up to date documents for gas and electricity the surveyor will be compelled to rate as condition 3 "Defects which are serious and/or need to be repaired, replaced or investigated urgently" in the Home Buyers Report and Valuation. Would you find this misleading or do you think it's fair. Before you answer (mgeorge@ricsonline.org) reflect upon the last time you had your gas and electric safety tested.
Dodgy Energy Performance Certificates are being issued that are not worth the paper they are written on.
They are 'strewn with schoolboy errors' and 'glaring omissions', according to Communities and Local Government, in a warning to the accreditation schemes that are meant to police the regime.
CLG has accused the schemes of failing to catch unacceptable or invalid EPCs, and of allowing Domestic Energy Assessors (DEAs) to lodge reports when their membership has run out, or if they have been expelled from other accreditation schemes for disciplinary reasons.
In a letter from CLG, written to the accreditation schemes and leaked to the website Home Inspectors Forum, CLG also announces tougher disciplinary procedures that will now face the schemes if they fail to uphold standards.
There will now be spot checks and mystery shopping.
According to one of the accreditation schemes, NHER, more than half its DEAs have lodged less than 75 EPCs.
Separately, a leading EPC provider has warned that false economies are being made on 'cheap as chips' Domestic Energy Assessor (DEA) services and that it is unclear where the agent's liability stands, if the agent has commissioned the EPC.
Greg Elliott, group operations director of Green Energy Matters, said cases are beginning to come through where the DEA has got it wrong.
He said: "You can typically expect an out-of-court settlement of, say, £4,000 where an EPC stated that there was no double glazing when there was, or for £3,000 when the assessor got the type of boiler wrong."
Elliott said that faults in the EPC might not come to light in time for householders to claim on the DEA's professional indemnity insurance. He warned that the insurance might have run out, and the DEA "might have gone back to teaching".
------------------------------------------------
Do you think surveyors should have to rate services? The RICS does and yet surveyors are not qualified to inspect services in detail. Only GAS SAFE and ECA NICEIC etc contractors' operatives have the qualifications to do these things. The upshot is that unless the vendor has a complete set of up to date documents for gas and electricity the surveyor will be compelled to rate as condition 3 "Defects which are serious and/or need to be repaired, replaced or investigated urgently" in the Home Buyers Report and Valuation. Would you find this misleading or do you think it's fair. Before you answer (mgeorge@ricsonline.org) reflect upon the last time you had your gas and electric safety tested.
Dodgy Energy Performance Certificates are being issued that are not worth the paper they are written on.
They are 'strewn with schoolboy errors' and 'glaring omissions', according to Communities and Local Government, in a warning to the accreditation schemes that are meant to police the regime.
CLG has accused the schemes of failing to catch unacceptable or invalid EPCs, and of allowing Domestic Energy Assessors (DEAs) to lodge reports when their membership has run out, or if they have been expelled from other accreditation schemes for disciplinary reasons.
In a letter from CLG, written to the accreditation schemes and leaked to the website Home Inspectors Forum, CLG also announces tougher disciplinary procedures that will now face the schemes if they fail to uphold standards.
There will now be spot checks and mystery shopping.
According to one of the accreditation schemes, NHER, more than half its DEAs have lodged less than 75 EPCs.
Separately, a leading EPC provider has warned that false economies are being made on 'cheap as chips' Domestic Energy Assessor (DEA) services and that it is unclear where the agent's liability stands, if the agent has commissioned the EPC.
Greg Elliott, group operations director of Green Energy Matters, said cases are beginning to come through where the DEA has got it wrong.
He said: "You can typically expect an out-of-court settlement of, say, £4,000 where an EPC stated that there was no double glazing when there was, or for £3,000 when the assessor got the type of boiler wrong."
Elliott said that faults in the EPC might not come to light in time for householders to claim on the DEA's professional indemnity insurance. He warned that the insurance might have run out, and the DEA "might have gone back to teaching".
------------------------------------------------
Do you think surveyors should have to rate services? The RICS does and yet surveyors are not qualified to inspect services in detail. Only GAS SAFE and ECA NICEIC etc contractors' operatives have the qualifications to do these things. The upshot is that unless the vendor has a complete set of up to date documents for gas and electricity the surveyor will be compelled to rate as condition 3 "Defects which are serious and/or need to be repaired, replaced or investigated urgently" in the Home Buyers Report and Valuation. Would you find this misleading or do you think it's fair. Before you answer (mgeorge@ricsonline.org) reflect upon the last time you had your gas and electric safety tested.
Dodgy Energy Performance Certificates are being issued that are not worth the paper they are written on.
They are 'strewn with schoolboy errors' and 'glaring omissions', according to Communities and Local Government, in a warning to the accreditation schemes that are meant to police the regime.
CLG has accused the schemes of failing to catch unacceptable or invalid EPCs, and of allowing Domestic Energy Assessors (DEAs) to lodge reports when their membership has run out, or if they have been expelled from other accreditation schemes for disciplinary reasons.
In a letter from CLG, written to the accreditation schemes and leaked to the website Home Inspectors Forum, CLG also announces tougher disciplinary procedures that will now face the schemes if they fail to uphold standards.
There will now be spot checks and mystery shopping.
According to one of the accreditation schemes, NHER, more than half its DEAs have lodged less than 75 EPCs.
Separately, a leading EPC provider has warned that false economies are being made on 'cheap as chips' Domestic Energy Assessor (DEA) services and that it is unclear where the agent's liability stands, if the agent has commissioned the EPC.
Greg Elliott, group operations director of Green Energy Matters, said cases are beginning to come through where the DEA has got it wrong.
He said: "You can typically expect an out-of-court settlement of, say, £4,000 where an EPC stated that there was no double glazing when there was, or for £3,000 when the assessor got the type of boiler wrong."
Elliott said that faults in the EPC might not come to light in time for householders to claim on the DEA's professional indemnity insurance. He warned that the insurance might have run out, and the DEA "might have gone back to teaching".
------------------------------------------------
Do you think surveyors should have to rate services? The RICS does and yet surveyors are not qualified to inspect services in detail. Only GAS SAFE and ECA NICEIC etc contractors' operatives have the qualifications to do these things. The upshot is that unless the vendor has a complete set of up to date documents for gas and electricity the surveyor will be compelled to rate as condition 3 "Defects which are serious and/or need to be repaired, replaced or investigated urgently" in the Home Buyers Report and Valuation. Would you find this misleading or do you think it's fair. Before you answer (mgeorge@ricsonline.org) reflect upon the last time you had your gas and electric safety tested.
Dodgy Energy Performance Certificates are being issued that are not worth the paper they are written on.
They are 'strewn with schoolboy errors' and 'glaring omissions', according to Communities and Local Government, in a warning to the accreditation schemes that are meant to police the regime.
CLG has accused the schemes of failing to catch unacceptable or invalid EPCs, and of allowing Domestic Energy Assessors (DEAs) to lodge reports when their membership has run out, or if they have been expelled from other accreditation schemes for disciplinary reasons.
In a letter from CLG, written to the accreditation schemes and leaked to the website Home Inspectors Forum, CLG also announces tougher disciplinary procedures that will now face the schemes if they fail to uphold standards.
There will now be spot checks and mystery shopping.
According to one of the accreditation schemes, NHER, more than half its DEAs have lodged less than 75 EPCs.
Separately, a leading EPC provider has warned that false economies are being made on 'cheap as chips' Domestic Energy Assessor (DEA) services and that it is unclear where the agent's liability stands, if the agent has commissioned the EPC.
Greg Elliott, group operations director of Green Energy Matters, said cases are beginning to come through where the DEA has got it wrong.
He said: "You can typically expect an out-of-court settlement of, say, £4,000 where an EPC stated that there was no double glazing when there was, or for £3,000 when the assessor got the type of boiler wrong."
Elliott said that faults in the EPC might not come to light in time for householders to claim on the DEA's professional indemnity insurance. He warned that the insurance might have run out, and the DEA "might have gone back to teaching".
------------------------------------------------
Do you think surveyors should have to rate services? The RICS does and yet surveyors are not qualified to inspect services in detail. Only GAS SAFE and ECA NICEIC etc contractors' operatives have the qualifications to do these things. The upshot is that unless the vendor has a complete set of up to date documents for gas and electricity the surveyor will be compelled to rate as condition 3 "Defects which are serious and/or need to be repaired, replaced or investigated urgently" in the Home Buyers Report and Valuation. Would you find this misleading or do you think it's fair. Before you answer (mgeorge@ricsonline.org) reflect upon the last time you had your gas and electric safety tested.
Dodgy Energy Performance Certificates are being issued that are not worth the paper they are written on.
They are 'strewn with schoolboy errors' and 'glaring omissions', according to Communities and Local Government, in a warning to the accreditation schemes that are meant to police the regime.
CLG has accused the schemes of failing to catch unacceptable or invalid EPCs, and of allowing Domestic Energy Assessors (DEAs) to lodge reports when their membership has run out, or if they have been expelled from other accreditation schemes for disciplinary reasons.
In a letter from CLG, written to the accreditation schemes and leaked to the website Home Inspectors Forum, CLG also announces tougher disciplinary procedures that will now face the schemes if they fail to uphold standards.
There will now be spot checks and mystery shopping.
According to one of the accreditation schemes, NHER, more than half its DEAs have lodged less than 75 EPCs.
Separately, a leading EPC provider has warned that false economies are being made on 'cheap as chips' Domestic Energy Assessor (DEA) services and that it is unclear where the agent's liability stands, if the agent has commissioned the EPC.
Greg Elliott, group operations director of Green Energy Matters, said cases are beginning to come through where the DEA has got it wrong.
He said: "You can typically expect an out-of-court settlement of, say, £4,000 where an EPC stated that there was no double glazing when there was, or for £3,000 when the assessor got the type of boiler wrong."
Elliott said that faults in the EPC might not come to light in time for householders to claim on the DEA's professional indemnity insurance. He warned that the insurance might have run out, and the DEA "might have gone back to teaching".
------------------------------------------------
Do you think surveyors should have to rate services? The RICS does and yet surveyors are not qualified to inspect services in detail. Only GAS SAFE and ECA NICEIC etc contractors' operatives have the qualifications to do these things. The upshot is that unless the vendor has a complete set of up to date documents for gas and electricity the surveyor will be compelled to rate as condition 3 "Defects which are serious and/or need to be repaired, replaced or investigated urgently" in the Home Buyers Report and Valuation. Would you find this misleading or do you think it's fair. Before you answer (mgeorge@ricsonline.org) reflect upon the last time you had your gas and electric safety tested.
Current Market
After a flurry of initial doubts at the beginning of January about the end of the stamp duty holiday the market seems to have got over its uncertainty.
At last HIPS has been suspended.
We believed this was putting a break on the market especially for those vendors wishing to test the water. Some agents will claim that about 15% of their completions arise due to this class of client and it it can only be to the good if they return.
We know there are tax rises on the way but we knew that before the election so very little has changed.
Prices seem to have held firm in the last four months but the recent recovery has been built on a lack of supply which has brought prices up from perhaps "fire sale" levels.
If prices were to rise in the face of the next round of redundancies which will surely follow once the public sector review is compplete they will appear over inflated.
If prices stay steady buyers should still stay interested. The market needs to continue its balancing act since a mis-match could lead to a sharp revision.
EPCs are 'strewn with schoolboy errors'
I say "Frankly what can you expect when you hand a complex property task to people with little or no property experience"- read on
Monday 11th January 2010 Dodgy Energy Performance Certificates are being issued that are not worth the paper they are written on. They are 'strewn with schoolboy errors' and 'glaring omissions', according to Communities and Local Government, in a warning to the accreditation schemes that are meant to police the regime. CLG has accused the schemes of failing to catch unacceptable or invalid EPCs, and of allowing Domestic Energy Assessors (DEAs) to lodge reports when their membership has run out, or if they have been expelled from other accreditation schemes for disciplinary reasons. In a letter from CLG, written to the accreditation schemes and leaked to the website Home Inspectors Forum, CLG also announces tougher disciplinary procedures that will now face the schemes if they fail to uphold standards. There will now be spot checks and mystery shopping. According to one of the accreditation schemes, NHER, more than half its DEAs have lodged less than 75 EPCs. Separately, a leading EPC provider has warned that false economies are being made on 'cheap as chips' Domestic Energy Assessor (DEA) services and that it is unclear where the agent's liability stands, if the agent has commissioned the EPC. Greg Elliott, group operations director of Green Energy Matters, said cases are beginning to come through where the DEA has got it wrong. He said: "You can typically expect an out-of-court settlement of, say, £4,000 where an EPC stated that there was no double glazing when there was, or for £3,000 when the assessor got the type of boiler wrong." Elliott said that faults in the EPC might not come to light in time for householders to claim on the DEA's professional indemnity insurance. He warned that the insurance might have run out, and the DEA "might have gone back to teaching".
------------------------------------------------
Do you think surveyors should have to rate services? The RICS does and yet surveyors are not qualified to inspect services in detail. Only GAS SAFE and ECA NICEIC etc contractors' operatives have the qualifications to do these things. The upshot is that unless the vendor has a complete set of up to date documents for gas and electricity the surveyor will be compelled to rate as condition 3 "Defects which are serious and/or need to be repaired, replaced or investigated urgently" in the Home Buyers Report and Valuation. Would you find this misleading or do you think it's fair. Before you answer (mgeorge@ricsonline.org) reflect upon the last time you had your gas and electric safety tested.
Dodgy Energy Performance Certificates are being issued that are not worth the paper they are written on.
They are 'strewn with schoolboy errors' and 'glaring omissions', according to Communities and Local Government, in a warning to the accreditation schemes that are meant to police the regime.
CLG has accused the schemes of failing to catch unacceptable or invalid EPCs, and of allowing Domestic Energy Assessors (DEAs) to lodge reports when their membership has run out, or if they have been expelled from other accreditation schemes for disciplinary reasons.
In a letter from CLG, written to the accreditation schemes and leaked to the website Home Inspectors Forum, CLG also announces tougher disciplinary procedures that will now face the schemes if they fail to uphold standards.
There will now be spot checks and mystery shopping.
According to one of the accreditation schemes, NHER, more than half its DEAs have lodged less than 75 EPCs.
Separately, a leading EPC provider has warned that false economies are being made on 'cheap as chips' Domestic Energy Assessor (DEA) services and that it is unclear where the agent's liability stands, if the agent has commissioned the EPC.
Greg Elliott, group operations director of Green Energy Matters, said cases are beginning to come through where the DEA has got it wrong.
He said: "You can typically expect an out-of-court settlement of, say, £4,000 where an EPC stated that there was no double glazing when there was, or for £3,000 when the assessor got the type of boiler wrong."
Elliott said that faults in the EPC might not come to light in time for householders to claim on the DEA's professional indemnity insurance. He warned that the insurance might have run out, and the DEA "might have gone back to teaching".
------------------------------------------------
Do you think surveyors should have to rate services? The RICS does and yet surveyors are not qualified to inspect services in detail. Only GAS SAFE and ECA NICEIC etc contractors' operatives have the qualifications to do these things. The upshot is that unless the vendor has a complete set of up to date documents for gas and electricity the surveyor will be compelled to rate as condition 3 "Defects which are serious and/or need to be repaired, replaced or investigated urgently" in the Home Buyers Report and Valuation. Would you find this misleading or do you think it's fair. Before you answer (mgeorge@ricsonline.org) reflect upon the last time you had your gas and electric safety tested.
Dodgy Energy Performance Certificates are being issued that are not worth the paper they are written on.
They are 'strewn with schoolboy errors' and 'glaring omissions', according to Communities and Local Government, in a warning to the accreditation schemes that are meant to police the regime.
CLG has accused the schemes of failing to catch unacceptable or invalid EPCs, and of allowing Domestic Energy Assessors (DEAs) to lodge reports when their membership has run out, or if they have been expelled from other accreditation schemes for disciplinary reasons.
In a letter from CLG, written to the accreditation schemes and leaked to the website Home Inspectors Forum, CLG also announces tougher disciplinary procedures that will now face the schemes if they fail to uphold standards.
There will now be spot checks and mystery shopping.
According to one of the accreditation schemes, NHER, more than half its DEAs have lodged less than 75 EPCs.
Separately, a leading EPC provider has warned that false economies are being made on 'cheap as chips' Domestic Energy Assessor (DEA) services and that it is unclear where the agent's liability stands, if the agent has commissioned the EPC.
Greg Elliott, group operations director of Green Energy Matters, said cases are beginning to come through where the DEA has got it wrong.
He said: "You can typically expect an out-of-court settlement of, say, £4,000 where an EPC stated that there was no double glazing when there was, or for £3,000 when the assessor got the type of boiler wrong."
Elliott said that faults in the EPC might not come to light in time for householders to claim on the DEA's professional indemnity insurance. He warned that the insurance might have run out, and the DEA "might have gone back to teaching".
------------------------------------------------
Do you think surveyors should have to rate services? The RICS does and yet surveyors are not qualified to inspect services in detail. Only GAS SAFE and ECA NICEIC etc contractors' operatives have the qualifications to do these things. The upshot is that unless the vendor has a complete set of up to date documents for gas and electricity the surveyor will be compelled to rate as condition 3 "Defects which are serious and/or need to be repaired, replaced or investigated urgently" in the Home Buyers Report and Valuation. Would you find this misleading or do you think it's fair. Before you answer (mgeorge@ricsonline.org) reflect upon the last time you had your gas and electric safety tested.
Dodgy Energy Performance Certificates are being issued that are not worth the paper they are written on.
They are 'strewn with schoolboy errors' and 'glaring omissions', according to Communities and Local Government, in a warning to the accreditation schemes that are meant to police the regime.
CLG has accused the schemes of failing to catch unacceptable or invalid EPCs, and of allowing Domestic Energy Assessors (DEAs) to lodge reports when their membership has run out, or if they have been expelled from other accreditation schemes for disciplinary reasons.
In a letter from CLG, written to the accreditation schemes and leaked to the website Home Inspectors Forum, CLG also announces tougher disciplinary procedures that will now face the schemes if they fail to uphold standards.
There will now be spot checks and mystery shopping.
According to one of the accreditation schemes, NHER, more than half its DEAs have lodged less than 75 EPCs.
Separately, a leading EPC provider has warned that false economies are being made on 'cheap as chips' Domestic Energy Assessor (DEA) services and that it is unclear where the agent's liability stands, if the agent has commissioned the EPC.
Greg Elliott, group operations director of Green Energy Matters, said cases are beginning to come through where the DEA has got it wrong.
He said: "You can typically expect an out-of-court settlement of, say, £4,000 where an EPC stated that there was no double glazing when there was, or for £3,000 when the assessor got the type of boiler wrong."
Elliott said that faults in the EPC might not come to light in time for householders to claim on the DEA's professional indemnity insurance. He warned that the insurance might have run out, and the DEA "might have gone back to teaching".
------------------------------------------------
Do you think surveyors should have to rate services? The RICS does and yet surveyors are not qualified to inspect services in detail. Only GAS SAFE and ECA NICEIC etc contractors' operatives have the qualifications to do these things. The upshot is that unless the vendor has a complete set of up to date documents for gas and electricity the surveyor will be compelled to rate as condition 3 "Defects which are serious and/or need to be repaired, replaced or investigated urgently" in the Home Buyers Report and Valuation. Would you find this misleading or do you think it's fair. Before you answer (mgeorge@ricsonline.org) reflect upon the last time you had your gas and electric safety tested.
Dodgy Energy Performance Certificates are being issued that are not worth the paper they are written on.
They are 'strewn with schoolboy errors' and 'glaring omissions', according to Communities and Local Government, in a warning to the accreditation schemes that are meant to police the regime.
CLG has accused the schemes of failing to catch unacceptable or invalid EPCs, and of allowing Domestic Energy Assessors (DEAs) to lodge reports when their membership has run out, or if they have been expelled from other accreditation schemes for disciplinary reasons.
In a letter from CLG, written to the accreditation schemes and leaked to the website Home Inspectors Forum, CLG also announces tougher disciplinary procedures that will now face the schemes if they fail to uphold standards.
There will now be spot checks and mystery shopping.
According to one of the accreditation schemes, NHER, more than half its DEAs have lodged less than 75 EPCs.
Separately, a leading EPC provider has warned that false economies are being made on 'cheap as chips' Domestic Energy Assessor (DEA) services and that it is unclear where the agent's liability stands, if the agent has commissioned the EPC.
Greg Elliott, group operations director of Green Energy Matters, said cases are beginning to come through where the DEA has got it wrong.
He said: "You can typically expect an out-of-court settlement of, say, £4,000 where an EPC stated that there was no double glazing when there was, or for £3,000 when the assessor got the type of boiler wrong."
Elliott said that faults in the EPC might not come to light in time for householders to claim on the DEA's professional indemnity insurance. He warned that the insurance might have run out, and the DEA "might have gone back to teaching".
------------------------------------------------
Do you think surveyors should have to rate services? The RICS does and yet surveyors are not qualified to inspect services in detail. Only GAS SAFE and ECA NICEIC etc contractors' operatives have the qualifications to do these things. The upshot is that unless the vendor has a complete set of up to date documents for gas and electricity the surveyor will be compelled to rate as condition 3 "Defects which are serious and/or need to be repaired, replaced or investigated urgently" in the Home Buyers Report and Valuation. Would you find this misleading or do you think it's fair. Before you answer (mgeorge@ricsonline.org) reflect upon the last time you had your gas and electric safety tested.
Dodgy Energy Performance Certificates are being issued that are not worth the paper they are written on.
They are 'strewn with schoolboy errors' and 'glaring omissions', according to Communities and Local Government, in a warning to the accreditation schemes that are meant to police the regime.
CLG has accused the schemes of failing to catch unacceptable or invalid EPCs, and of allowing Domestic Energy Assessors (DEAs) to lodge reports when their membership has run out, or if they have been expelled from other accreditation schemes for disciplinary reasons.
In a letter from CLG, written to the accreditation schemes and leaked to the website Home Inspectors Forum, CLG also announces tougher disciplinary procedures that will now face the schemes if they fail to uphold standards.
There will now be spot checks and mystery shopping.
According to one of the accreditation schemes, NHER, more than half its DEAs have lodged less than 75 EPCs.
Separately, a leading EPC provider has warned that false economies are being made on 'cheap as chips' Domestic Energy Assessor (DEA) services and that it is unclear where the agent's liability stands, if the agent has commissioned the EPC.
Greg Elliott, group operations director of Green Energy Matters, said cases are beginning to come through where the DEA has got it wrong.
He said: "You can typically expect an out-of-court settlement of, say, £4,000 where an EPC stated that there was no double glazing when there was, or for £3,000 when the assessor got the type of boiler wrong."
Elliott said that faults in the EPC might not come to light in time for householders to claim on the DEA's professional indemnity insurance. He warned that the insurance might have run out, and the DEA "might have gone back to teaching".
------------------------------------------------
Do you think surveyors should have to rate services? The RICS does and yet surveyors are not qualified to inspect services in detail. Only GAS SAFE and ECA NICEIC etc contractors' operatives have the qualifications to do these things. The upshot is that unless the vendor has a complete set of up to date documents for gas and electricity the surveyor will be compelled to rate as condition 3 "Defects which are serious and/or need to be repaired, replaced or investigated urgently" in the Home Buyers Report and Valuation. Would you find this misleading or do you think it's fair. Before you answer (mgeorge@ricsonline.org) reflect upon the last time you had your gas and electric safety tested.
Dodgy Energy Performance Certificates are being issued that are not worth the paper they are written on.
They are 'strewn with schoolboy errors' and 'glaring omissions', according to Communities and Local Government, in a warning to the accreditation schemes that are meant to police the regime.
CLG has accused the schemes of failing to catch unacceptable or invalid EPCs, and of allowing Domestic Energy Assessors (DEAs) to lodge reports when their membership has run out, or if they have been expelled from other accreditation schemes for disciplinary reasons.
In a letter from CLG, written to the accreditation schemes and leaked to the website Home Inspectors Forum, CLG also announces tougher disciplinary procedures that will now face the schemes if they fail to uphold standards.
There will now be spot checks and mystery shopping.
According to one of the accreditation schemes, NHER, more than half its DEAs have lodged less than 75 EPCs.
Separately, a leading EPC provider has warned that false economies are being made on 'cheap as chips' Domestic Energy Assessor (DEA) services and that it is unclear where the agent's liability stands, if the agent has commissioned the EPC.
Greg Elliott, group operations director of Green Energy Matters, said cases are beginning to come through where the DEA has got it wrong.
He said: "You can typically expect an out-of-court settlement of, say, £4,000 where an EPC stated that there was no double glazing when there was, or for £3,000 when the assessor got the type of boiler wrong."
Elliott said that faults in the EPC might not come to light in time for householders to claim on the DEA's professional indemnity insurance. He warned that the insurance might have run out, and the DEA "might have gone back to teaching".
------------------------------------------------
Do you think surveyors should have to rate services? The RICS does and yet surveyors are not qualified to inspect services in detail. Only GAS SAFE and ECA NICEIC etc contractors' operatives have the qualifications to do these things. The upshot is that unless the vendor has a complete set of up to date documents for gas and electricity the surveyor will be compelled to rate as condition 3 "Defects which are serious and/or need to be repaired, replaced or investigated urgently" in the Home Buyers Report and Valuation. Would you find this misleading or do you think it's fair. Before you answer (mgeorge@ricsonline.org) reflect upon the last time you had your gas and electric safety tested.
Current Market
After a flurry of initial doubts at the beginning of January about the end of the stamp duty holiday the market seems to have got over its uncertainty.
At last HIPS has been suspended.
We believed this was putting a break on the market especially for those vendors wishing to test the water. Some agents will claim that about 15% of their completions arise due to this class of client and it it can only be to the good if they return.
We know there are tax rises on the way but we knew that before the election so very little has changed.
Prices seem to have held firm in the last four months but the recent recovery has been built on a lack of supply which has brought prices up from perhaps "fire sale" levels.
If prices were to rise in the face of the next round of redundancies which will surely follow once the public sector review is compplete they will appear over inflated.
If prices stay steady buyers should still stay interested. The market needs to continue its balancing act since a mis-match could lead to a sharp revision.
EPCs are 'strewn with schoolboy errors'
I say "Frankly what can you expect when you hand a complex property task to people with little or no property experience"- read on
Monday 11th January 2010 Dodgy Energy Performance Certificates are being issued that are not worth the paper they are written on. They are 'strewn with schoolboy errors' and 'glaring omissions', according to Communities and Local Government, in a warning to the accreditation schemes that are meant to police the regime. CLG has accused the schemes of failing to catch unacceptable or invalid EPCs, and of allowing Domestic Energy Assessors (DEAs) to lodge reports when their membership has run out, or if they have been expelled from other accreditation schemes for disciplinary reasons. In a letter from CLG, written to the accreditation schemes and leaked to the website Home Inspectors Forum, CLG also announces tougher disciplinary procedures that will now face the schemes if they fail to uphold standards. There will now be spot checks and mystery shopping. According to one of the accreditation schemes, NHER, more than half its DEAs have lodged less than 75 EPCs. Separately, a leading EPC provider has warned that false economies are being made on 'cheap as chips' Domestic Energy Assessor (DEA) services and that it is unclear where the agent's liability stands, if the agent has commissioned the EPC. Greg Elliott, group operations director of Green Energy Matters, said cases are beginning to come through where the DEA has got it wrong. He said: "You can typically expect an out-of-court settlement of, say, £4,000 where an EPC stated that there was no double glazing when there was, or for £3,000 when the assessor got the type of boiler wrong." Elliott said that faults in the EPC might not come to light in time for householders to claim on the DEA's professional indemnity insurance. He warned that the insurance might have run out, and the DEA "might have gone back to teaching".
------------------------------------------------
Do you think surveyors should have to rate services? The RICS does and yet surveyors are not qualified to inspect services in detail. Only GAS SAFE and ECA NICEIC etc contractors' operatives have the qualifications to do these things. The upshot is that unless the vendor has a complete set of up to date documents for gas and electricity the surveyor will be compelled to rate as condition 3 "Defects which are serious and/or need to be repaired, replaced or investigated urgently" in the Home Buyers Report and Valuation. Would you find this misleading or do you think it's fair. Before you answer (mgeorge@ricsonline.org) reflect upon the last time you had your gas and electric safety tested.
Dodgy Energy Performance Certificates are being issued that are not worth the paper they are written on.
They are 'strewn with schoolboy errors' and 'glaring omissions', according to Communities and Local Government, in a warning to the accreditation schemes that are meant to police the regime.
CLG has accused the schemes of failing to catch unacceptable or invalid EPCs, and of allowing Domestic Energy Assessors (DEAs) to lodge reports when their membership has run out, or if they have been expelled from other accreditation schemes for disciplinary reasons.
In a letter from CLG, written to the accreditation schemes and leaked to the website Home Inspectors Forum, CLG also announces tougher disciplinary procedures that will now face the schemes if they fail to uphold standards.
There will now be spot checks and mystery shopping.
According to one of the accreditation schemes, NHER, more than half its DEAs have lodged less than 75 EPCs.
Separately, a leading EPC provider has warned that false economies are being made on 'cheap as chips' Domestic Energy Assessor (DEA) services and that it is unclear where the agent's liability stands, if the agent has commissioned the EPC.
Greg Elliott, group operations director of Green Energy Matters, said cases are beginning to come through where the DEA has got it wrong.
He said: "You can typically expect an out-of-court settlement of, say, £4,000 where an EPC stated that there was no double glazing when there was, or for £3,000 when the assessor got the type of boiler wrong."
Elliott said that faults in the EPC might not come to light in time for householders to claim on the DEA's professional indemnity insurance. He warned that the insurance might have run out, and the DEA "might have gone back to teaching".
------------------------------------------------
Do you think surveyors should have to rate services? The RICS does and yet surveyors are not qualified to inspect services in detail. Only GAS SAFE and ECA NICEIC etc contractors' operatives have the qualifications to do these things. The upshot is that unless the vendor has a complete set of up to date documents for gas and electricity the surveyor will be compelled to rate as condition 3 "Defects which are serious and/or need to be repaired, replaced or investigated urgently" in the Home Buyers Report and Valuation. Would you find this misleading or do you think it's fair. Before you answer (mgeorge@ricsonline.org) reflect upon the last time you had your gas and electric safety tested.
Dodgy Energy Performance Certificates are being issued that are not worth the paper they are written on.
They are 'strewn with schoolboy errors' and 'glaring omissions', according to Communities and Local Government, in a warning to the accreditation schemes that are meant to police the regime.
CLG has accused the schemes of failing to catch unacceptable or invalid EPCs, and of allowing Domestic Energy Assessors (DEAs) to lodge reports when their membership has run out, or if they have been expelled from other accreditation schemes for disciplinary reasons.
In a letter from CLG, written to the accreditation schemes and leaked to the website Home Inspectors Forum, CLG also announces tougher disciplinary procedures that will now face the schemes if they fail to uphold standards.
There will now be spot checks and mystery shopping.
According to one of the accreditation schemes, NHER, more than half its DEAs have lodged less than 75 EPCs.
Separately, a leading EPC provider has warned that false economies are being made on 'cheap as chips' Domestic Energy Assessor (DEA) services and that it is unclear where the agent's liability stands, if the agent has commissioned the EPC.
Greg Elliott, group operations director of Green Energy Matters, said cases are beginning to come through where the DEA has got it wrong.
He said: "You can typically expect an out-of-court settlement of, say, £4,000 where an EPC stated that there was no double glazing when there was, or for £3,000 when the assessor got the type of boiler wrong."
Elliott said that faults in the EPC might not come to light in time for householders to claim on the DEA's professional indemnity insurance. He warned that the insurance might have run out, and the DEA "might have gone back to teaching".
------------------------------------------------
Do you think surveyors should have to rate services? The RICS does and yet surveyors are not qualified to inspect services in detail. Only GAS SAFE and ECA NICEIC etc contractors' operatives have the qualifications to do these things. The upshot is that unless the vendor has a complete set of up to date documents for gas and electricity the surveyor will be compelled to rate as condition 3 "Defects which are serious and/or need to be repaired, replaced or investigated urgently" in the Home Buyers Report and Valuation. Would you find this misleading or do you think it's fair. Before you answer (mgeorge@ricsonline.org) reflect upon the last time you had your gas and electric safety tested.
Dodgy Energy Performance Certificates are being issued that are not worth the paper they are written on.
They are 'strewn with schoolboy errors' and 'glaring omissions', according to Communities and Local Government, in a warning to the accreditation schemes that are meant to police the regime.
CLG has accused the schemes of failing to catch unacceptable or invalid EPCs, and of allowing Domestic Energy Assessors (DEAs) to lodge reports when their membership has run out, or if they have been expelled from other accreditation schemes for disciplinary reasons.
In a letter from CLG, written to the accreditation schemes and leaked to the website Home Inspectors Forum, CLG also announces tougher disciplinary procedures that will now face the schemes if they fail to uphold standards.
There will now be spot checks and mystery shopping.
According to one of the accreditation schemes, NHER, more than half its DEAs have lodged less than 75 EPCs.
Separately, a leading EPC provider has warned that false economies are being made on 'cheap as chips' Domestic Energy Assessor (DEA) services and that it is unclear where the agent's liability stands, if the agent has commissioned the EPC.
Greg Elliott, group operations director of Green Energy Matters, said cases are beginning to come through where the DEA has got it wrong.
He said: "You can typically expect an out-of-court settlement of, say, £4,000 where an EPC stated that there was no double glazing when there was, or for £3,000 when the assessor got the type of boiler wrong."
Elliott said that faults in the EPC might not come to light in time for householders to claim on the DEA's professional indemnity insurance. He warned that the insurance might have run out, and the DEA "might have gone back to teaching".
------------------------------------------------
Do you think surveyors should have to rate services? The RICS does and yet surveyors are not qualified to inspect services in detail. Only GAS SAFE and ECA NICEIC etc contractors' operatives have the qualifications to do these things. The upshot is that unless the vendor has a complete set of up to date documents for gas and electricity the surveyor will be compelled to rate as condition 3 "Defects which are serious and/or need to be repaired, replaced or investigated urgently" in the Home Buyers Report and Valuation. Would you find this misleading or do you think it's fair. Before you answer (mgeorge@ricsonline.org) reflect upon the last time you had your gas and electric safety tested.
Dodgy Energy Performance Certificates are being issued that are not worth the paper they are written on.
They are 'strewn with schoolboy errors' and 'glaring omissions', according to Communities and Local Government, in a warning to the accreditation schemes that are meant to police the regime.
CLG has accused the schemes of failing to catch unacceptable or invalid EPCs, and of allowing Domestic Energy Assessors (DEAs) to lodge reports when their membership has run out, or if they have been expelled from other accreditation schemes for disciplinary reasons.
In a letter from CLG, written to the accreditation schemes and leaked to the website Home Inspectors Forum, CLG also announces tougher disciplinary procedures that will now face the schemes if they fail to uphold standards.
There will now be spot checks and mystery shopping.
According to one of the accreditation schemes, NHER, more than half its DEAs have lodged less than 75 EPCs.
Separately, a leading EPC provider has warned that false economies are being made on 'cheap as chips' Domestic Energy Assessor (DEA) services and that it is unclear where the agent's liability stands, if the agent has commissioned the EPC.
Greg Elliott, group operations director of Green Energy Matters, said cases are beginning to come through where the DEA has got it wrong.
He said: "You can typically expect an out-of-court settlement of, say, £4,000 where an EPC stated that there was no double glazing when there was, or for £3,000 when the assessor got the type of boiler wrong."
Elliott said that faults in the EPC might not come to light in time for householders to claim on the DEA's professional indemnity insurance. He warned that the insurance might have run out, and the DEA "might have gone back to teaching".
------------------------------------------------
Do you think surveyors should have to rate services? The RICS does and yet surveyors are not qualified to inspect services in detail. Only GAS SAFE and ECA NICEIC etc contractors' operatives have the qualifications to do these things. The upshot is that unless the vendor has a complete set of up to date documents for gas and electricity the surveyor will be compelled to rate as condition 3 "Defects which are serious and/or need to be repaired, replaced or investigated urgently" in the Home Buyers Report and Valuation. Would you find this misleading or do you think it's fair. Before you answer (mgeorge@ricsonline.org) reflect upon the last time you had your gas and electric safety tested.
Dodgy Energy Performance Certificates are being issued that are not worth the paper they are written on.
They are 'strewn with schoolboy errors' and 'glaring omissions', according to Communities and Local Government, in a warning to the accreditation schemes that are meant to police the regime.
CLG has accused the schemes of failing to catch unacceptable or invalid EPCs, and of allowing Domestic Energy Assessors (DEAs) to lodge reports when their membership has run out, or if they have been expelled from other accreditation schemes for disciplinary reasons.
In a letter from CLG, written to the accreditation schemes and leaked to the website Home Inspectors Forum, CLG also announces tougher disciplinary procedures that will now face the schemes if they fail to uphold standards.
There will now be spot checks and mystery shopping.
According to one of the accreditation schemes, NHER, more than half its DEAs have lodged less than 75 EPCs.
Separately, a leading EPC provider has warned that false economies are being made on 'cheap as chips' Domestic Energy Assessor (DEA) services and that it is unclear where the agent's liability stands, if the agent has commissioned the EPC.
Greg Elliott, group operations director of Green Energy Matters, said cases are beginning to come through where the DEA has got it wrong.
He said: "You can typically expect an out-of-court settlement of, say, £4,000 where an EPC stated that there was no double glazing when there was, or for £3,000 when the assessor got the type of boiler wrong."
Elliott said that faults in the EPC might not come to light in time for householders to claim on the DEA's professional indemnity insurance. He warned that the insurance might have run out, and the DEA "might have gone back to teaching".
------------------------------------------------
Do you think surveyors should have to rate services? The RICS does and yet surveyors are not qualified to inspect services in detail. Only GAS SAFE and ECA NICEIC etc contractors' operatives have the qualifications to do these things. The upshot is that unless the vendor has a complete set of up to date documents for gas and electricity the surveyor will be compelled to rate as condition 3 "Defects which are serious and/or need to be repaired, replaced or investigated urgently" in the Home Buyers Report and Valuation. Would you find this misleading or do you think it's fair. Before you answer (mgeorge@ricsonline.org) reflect upon the last time you had your gas and electric safety tested.
Dodgy Energy Performance Certificates are being issued that are not worth the paper they are written on.
They are 'strewn with schoolboy errors' and 'glaring omissions', according to Communities and Local Government, in a warning to the accreditation schemes that are meant to police the regime.
CLG has accused the schemes of failing to catch unacceptable or invalid EPCs, and of allowing Domestic Energy Assessors (DEAs) to lodge reports when their membership has run out, or if they have been expelled from other accreditation schemes for disciplinary reasons.
In a letter from CLG, written to the accreditation schemes and leaked to the website Home Inspectors Forum, CLG also announces tougher disciplinary procedures that will now face the schemes if they fail to uphold standards.
There will now be spot checks and mystery shopping.
According to one of the accreditation schemes, NHER, more than half its DEAs have lodged less than 75 EPCs.
Separately, a leading EPC provider has warned that false economies are being made on 'cheap as chips' Domestic Energy Assessor (DEA) services and that it is unclear where the agent's liability stands, if the agent has commissioned the EPC.
Greg Elliott, group operations director of Green Energy Matters, said cases are beginning to come through where the DEA has got it wrong.
He said: "You can typically expect an out-of-court settlement of, say, £4,000 where an EPC stated that there was no double glazing when there was, or for £3,000 when the assessor got the type of boiler wrong."
Elliott said that faults in the EPC might not come to light in time for householders to claim on the DEA's professional indemnity insurance. He warned that the insurance might have run out, and the DEA "might have gone back to teaching".
------------------------------------------------
Do you think surveyors should have to rate services? The RICS does and yet surveyors are not qualified to inspect services in detail. Only GAS SAFE and ECA NICEIC etc contractors' operatives have the qualifications to do these things. The upshot is that unless the vendor has a complete set of up to date documents for gas and electricity the surveyor will be compelled to rate as condition 3 "Defects which are serious and/or need to be repaired, replaced or investigated urgently" in the Home Buyers Report and Valuation. Would you find this misleading or do you think it's fair. Before you answer (mgeorge@ricsonline.org) reflect upon the last time you had your gas and electric safety tested.
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