Andrew Gabriel wrote:

In article ,
Mike Harrison writes:
Some percentage chance of a £500 penalty vs. a £2000 report - the former
seems the better deal..!

I thought it was a £5000 fine, and that's what was said on
You and Yours when they covered it a few months back.

No, 500 was nearer the mark. I think it is specifically mentioned on
one of the ODPM's web documents - look for the bit about who will enforce
(Weights and Measures, LBA). 5000 is what you (potentially) pay for failing
to notify the BCO (and/or 6 months in gaol learning not to drop the soap).

I'd get a quote but I'm tired and can't be bothered. If you can;t find it,
ask in a couple of days and I'll dig it out. Unless it's been changed in the
last 5 weeks or so...

I thought exactly the same - 500 fine vs. 500-700 cost!


The £700 report assumes the home inspectors are qualified to
carry out all the inspections required, and that was based
on the government's assumption that surveyors and others in
the building trade would come forward to be trained. That
hasn't happened. The inspectors who have come forward to be
trained are all from outside the building trade, and have no
experience of it. This means they will have to employ multiple
specialist inspectors to undertake all the work, which is why
the cost is much more likely to be in the thousands, combined
with the issue that there are nowhere near as many inspectors
trained up as there should have been by now, so they will be
in very short supply.



If you look at the IEE forums which carry a couple of threads on this,
it seems certain to date that the HIP won;t include an electrical PIR, just
a visual check by the new "inspectors" which may or may not recommend a PIR
or other expert opinion. Judging by the shower of wannabe HIP inspector
trainees that were on Radio 4 couple of months back, then as long as your
wires are colour coordinated they'll pass!

"Ooh look Trinny, brown IS the new red!"

People speak ill of surveyors for being of variable efficiency in finding
problems, but this new breed of inspector sounds like it will drop to a
whole lower level.

Waste of bl**dy time and money IMO. The only bit that can be trusted will be
the searches as they are pretty procedural, but they'll be repeated by the
buyer's conveyancer anyway, just in case the HIP missed something.

Tim