Comments on: Energy performance certificate

By: Mick

Mick — Wed, 06 May 2009 10:49:33 +0000

Tskk!!

What a con. Wow thats like paying for an MOT on a car – it failing , then you having to fix it (i.e insulation in your drafty cold old house) and then having to get an MOT again. Tskk!! Bloody liberty!

Sorry mate, have you dropped something? There, its there !- your copy of the Daily Mail.

By: Richard Nussey

Richard Nussey — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 07:24:21 +0000

Very detailed information. Keep it up.

By: MRS E A JACKSON

MRS E A JACKSON — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 07:50:10 +0000

WHAT SHOULD THE COST OF AN ENERGY PERFORMANCE CERTIFICATE BE? I HAVE HAD MY HOUSE UP FOR SALE FOR OVER 12 MONTHS. MY ESTATE AGENT HAS SENT ME A BILL FOR £75.00 + VAT £13.13 = £88.13 PAYABLE BY 1ST OCT 2008 WHEN THE NEW LAW BECOMES OPERATIONAL.
IS THE CORRECT FEE
PLEASE ADVISE

By: John de Rivaz

John de Rivaz — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 22:24:24 +0000

All this is just a con to get the VAT revenue up and the unemployment figures down. The government and the professions (especially lawyers and accountants) are not caring for the citizens, they are just a plundering occupying army raping the country. Jack Straw some years ago said he wanted to reduce the cost of lawyers but failed. Shakespeare had one of his characters say they should all be killed, and Dickens tried to indicate their corruption in his novels such as Bleak House.

It is not that the individuals are crooked, but professions as a whole are corrupt in the way they take money from people giving nothing or little in return.

As a result there is much less money in the economy to pay honest tradesmen for useful work. An accountant can take from a self employed tradesman a weeks wages for just 40 minutes work.

Lawyers and such people should be made to feel social pariahs and outcasts.

If the authorities were honroable about this they would have zero rated these compliance costs and set a fixed fee that could be charged (like planning fees). The fact that they haven’t shows them to be collectively corrupt not not benign in their intentions.

By: denise stirrup

denise stirrup — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:20:18 +0000

its all good stuff and in my view important that we are all having these discussions. I am trying (!) to sell a solid 2 bedroom house for a resonable price (three quotes by estate agents – all similar) BUT there is the issue of stamp duty ie. you will not get more than £125,000 whatever we value it at. HIPs, well ‘we have to sub-contact to the provider (& then they sub-contract etc)’ More cost, more money paid to people who are not properly trained & threfore (in my view) do not really know what they are doing.They invade your privacy ie.your home, mess about and then panic if you ask a reasonable question like – do you really know much about what you are doing. None of these people are surveyors. Agree about estate agents, just quoted (taking into account EPC,HIP & estate agents fees etc.) approximately £3,500 to sell a property which according to them would not sell for more than £25,000. Sounds like a lot to me. Real problem – does not work for older properties (mine is I think very energy efficient, new boiler, insulation, double glazing etc). New ones – should not really need it although should be straightforward ?. Plus everyone is really just trying to make a fast buck. I do not diagree with these things in principle but they have to be done properly, for everyones sake ie.sellers and prospective buyers. If not – who would be ultimately responsible ?. I suspect in law the seller & so could therefore in theory be sued ?. No not ‘paranoid’ just an ex-town planner with a bit of knowledge about surveying & the law in this area. RICS should be monitoring all of this. Its a shambles as I think we would agree ?. If it continues the market will just stagnate further and everyone will go out of business. Not to mention the possible liigation which will follow. Some solicitors may like it though. Average cost of HIPs being quoted in this area (North Manchester – £400 plus VAT). Its all a load of nonesense because of the way they are doing it & is a desperate last ditch attempt to comply with E.U. directives which they have ignored for too long. There we go. This is NOT a sales pitch to try to sell my house. I will do that properly when I gather all necessary bits of paper together, which is not too difficult. But I did just want to contribute to the discussion.

Good luck everyone.

By: Home information

Home information — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 09:13:06 +0000

Hi all
After looking on various forums there are several points to be made
DEA’s working for HIPs providers, get Energy performance certificate prices of £45 per report

Hundreds of individuals who are looking to top up there income are quite happy to charge £45 per epc
So the cost of the EPC should be £45 regardless of home size.

The market sets the price, that’s the home selling public you and I
So if you ever need an Energy report and you are being quoted £90 and over refuse to pay it.
Chris

By: Alex

Alex — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 14:40:48 +0000

Chris those quotes you got for EPCs seem perfectly reasonable to me. taking into accout the overheads a Domestic Energy assessor has. Namely Training costs averging £2500-£3500, Licencing: use of software £200, and £6.50 per certificate issued. professional indeminty and public liablity insurance £400-£500, Equipment approx £500, fuel costs to travel to and from dwellings and the time taken to carry out the assessment and then fill in the software. £45 an assessment would not be possible.

By: Roger

Roger — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 15:06:02 +0000

To the reader, when we get comments like this, we know the truth is starting to hurt…

Selling your 4 bedroom home as 3 bedroom plus upstairs lounge , study ect is not the same, as selling a 3 bedroom home, you cannot campare the prices.

The price on 3 bedroom plus upstairs study is the same as a 4 bedroom home. see this post Home sold with no bedrooms

From Roger
Do you honestly expect anyone to take any notice of an anonymous web site put up by an anonymous person? Given that you are actively encouraging people to market their homes as three bedrooms instead of four, thereby reducing its value, I think the least they should expect is that you identify yourself and state what qualifies you to advise property sellers. Come on Chris, what’s the big secret?

By: Fran Mack

Fran Mack — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 22:33:42 +0000

Anyone who fools themselves that they can pretend that a four bedroomed house is a multi room house is being naive and it is disingenuous to suggest this. It’s also probably incitement to law breaking, but that’s beside the point.

And of course the market will drive the cost of EPCs – and HIPs! It’s daft to suggest otherwise. People will shop around for a decent HIP and EPC provider – or at least, their estate agent or solicitor will. The only fixed cost is the lodgement with the databank, which is a couple of quid.

By: SthglosHI

SthglosHI — Thu, 31 May 2007 22:53:09 +0000

Why do Sellers seemingly think nothing of paying over up to 2.5% of the value of their homes to nothing more than an incredibly expensive dating service called Estate Agency.

Estate Agents should stump up the fee for the HIP, my house was sold in 2 days after 6 phone calls and 3 viewings, that cost me £4,000…daylight robbery!…I’m sure £350 for a hip could have easily been absorbed by these so called professionals.