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Government calls for EPC implementation

25th January 2007 | back to article listings BACK    print this article PRINT

The government has today announced a consultation period, which proposes to makes the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) the first document in the Home Information Packs (Hips), due to be launched nationwide on June 1st.

Lasting until February 21st, the period aims to encourage estate agents to include the certificate, which calculates a home's energy efficiency, with their property particulars.

Also included in the consultation publication are changes to speed up the home buying process based on the evidence of testing in area trials around the country.

The government is urging EPCs to be included in the Hips as there is growing calls for the UK to wake up to the dangers of climate change.

In October last year, Dr Nicholas Stern, former chief economist of the World Bank, published a review which stated that global economic growth could be cut by a fifth if nothing was done by governments around the world to stop climate change.

Communities secretary Ruth Kelly said: "This is an important opportunity to improve the buying and selling process for consumers.

"We want to promote a greener housing market for consumers and EPCs can play a key part in this.

"By providing more information on the energy efficiency of homes, we can help consumers make more informed choices about the homes they buy and their impact on climate change."

Meanwhile, housing minister Yvette Cooper explained: "Most people have no idea about things like the lagging in the loft when they buy a new home.

"But this will tell people how they can save money on their fuel bills and cut their carbon emissions at the same time.

"The trials have also shown we need to tackle the unfair postcode lottery in searches which can cause homebuyers all kinds of costs and delays."

There will be a transitional period imposed after June 1st to oil the Hips introduction process. Sellers will be able to market their home as soon as an EPC and key legal documents are provided without having to show searches and leasehold documents.

These will however have to have been commissioned and this period will be reviewed at the end of the year.

The primary goal of the Hips scheme is to speed up the buying and selling process, through greater transparency, which advocates of the scheme say is lacking in today's housing industry.

It is hoped that each seller offering buyers standardised packs with information assembled from a variety of independent sources will help ease the strains of what is often seen as one of the most stressful markets to participate in.

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