"tim" wrote in message
...

"Doctor Drivel" wrote in message
reenews.net...

"Andy Hall" aka Matt wrote in message
...
On Wed, 19 Jul 2006 14:43:59 +0100, Doctor Drivel wrote
(in article ews.net):

"Andy Hall" aka Matt wrote in message
...
On Tue, 18 Jul 2006 20:57:50 +0100, Andrew Gabriel wrote
(in article ):

The government has abandoned the
Home Condition Reports, which
were due to be introduced next year
for all house sales in England and Wales.

Brilliant news.

Matt, it is not brilliant news at all.

Anything involving

Matt, anything involving a house is sound, a house MOT, is fine by me.
It is a great idea.

The idea of HCR is sound indeed. An
MOT at house change. It ensures
that the buyer get a decent deal and the
services are all inspected. Everyone gains.

No they don't.

Matt, of source they don't, as it hasn't been inspected.

Only a half wit in the position of buying
a property would accept a survey
commissioned by the vendor.

Matt, it is not commissioned by the vendor. It would be "mandatory" and
the vendor pays. Do you think a Part P inspector pulls back on the rules
because of the person paying?

The (other) problem with the HCR is that it is going to
be a fairly basic check at unnecessarily high cost for
what you get (As you have to have one there will
be less incentive to bring the price down). It will
be one of those reports that tells you everything you
can see for yourself (if you CBA to look) and
almost nothing that you can't. For 49% of house
purchases it's going to be completely unnecessary
and for another 49% of sales it will be completely
inedaquate and a fuller survery will be required.
Only for about 2% of sales will be be of any
value (and yes it is obvious which sales these are)

AS I said, it should be looked at again. The report must be comprehensive,
covering all the item. For example, they could highlight the boiler ~20
years old and inefficient. or that the boiler ~4 years old and an efficient
condenser. Simple things that do matter. If I buy the house with the old
boiler I may want to drop the price to compensate for bringing the system up
to date.

Same with loft insulation. Yes you can have 50mm in then loft and say it is
insulated. Very different to 300mm of insulation.

These are points which are nearly always overlooked which matter a year or
two down the line. The last thing you want is one year on a bill of £4K.