On Mon, 23 Jan 2006 09:44:37 +0000, Mike Harrison wrote:

On Mon, 23 Jan 2006 08:08:48 GMT, "Ophelia" wrote:

Prescott plans a new disaster for house sales

John Prescott, the man who doesn't pay his council tax, will soon face
another major embarrassment. This is the chaos he will unleash by
introducing a serious new complication to homebuying, due to cost
homeowners £1 billion a year - all because he wishes to disguise his
need to obey a Brussels directive.

From June 2007, it will be illegal for anyone to offer a house or flat
for sale without paying up to £2,000 for a 100-page "Home Information
Pack", prepared by a certified inspector. This "HIP" will contain
details of legal and council searches, and a "Home Condition Report",
checklisting the kind of details obvious to a fairly rudimentary
visual inspection. (Buyers will still need to commission a full
structural survey and valuation.)

This is a flimsy cover, however, for the real motive behind Mr
Prescott's HIP scheme - his obligation to comply with EC directive
2002/91 requiring every home put on the market to have an "Energy
Performance Certificate", based on a formula which measures the size of
a property against recent fuel bills.

The more closely surveyors, estate agents and lawyers look into Mr
Prescott's scheme, the more horrified they become, not just by its
pointlessness, but by the damage it is likely to inflict on the
property market. According to his officials, it will require up to
7,500 inspectors, each needing 18 months' training.
The latest figure for inspectors in the pipeline is only 1,800, so when
the scheme comes into force in 18 months, less than a quarter of the
required number will be available.

Nevertheless, anyone caught by trading standards officials selling a
home without an HIP will be liable to a summary penalty up to £500.

Some percentage chance of a £500 penalty vs. a £2000 report - the former seems the better deal..!

Exactly what I was going to say. £500 flat rate tax on conveyancing round
here that'll hardly make much of a percentage difference over the Stamp
Duty.

It's bit like the advice to fraudsters about VAT. "If you are seriously in
trouble and you are about to be inspected then just burn and wipe all
records the, the penalty for non-record keeping is a maximum of £5000."


--
Ed Sirett - Property maintainer and registered gas fitter.
The FAQ for uk.diy is at http://www.diyfaq.org.uk
Gas fitting FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFitting.html
Sealed CH FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/SealedCH.html
Choosing a Boiler FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/BoilerChoice.html