I have been asked to reply.
These trials will be independently verified. A further announcement will be made shortly once the research contractor has been selected.
I have been asked to reply.
Participation in the area trials is voluntary. The Department is in discussion with industry regarding the appropriate support for the trials, although we intend this support to be focused on encouraging consumers to take-up home information packs (HIPs) and to be designed to help us see the effects of HIPs on chains of transactions. These trials will be independently verified. A further announcement will be made shortly on the selected contractor who will conduct the independent research.
I have been asked to reply.
Trials will take place in Bath, Cambridge, Southampton, Northampton, Newcastle and Huddersfield. The results in these areas will be compared with those in the baseline research conducted during the summer.
I have been asked to reply.
In most cases the seller will own title to the home information pack once it has been undertaken, although this will depend on the terms of the contract under which the pack has been prepared.
I have been asked to reply.
These trials will be independently verified. A further announcement will be made shortly on the research contractor selected to monitor the trials.
A person selling a shared equity or shared ownership property on the open market will need to provide a home information pack, including an energy performance certificate. In most shared equity schemes the purchaser owns 100 per cent. of the property. The equity loan is covered by a charge on the property which is repaid to the registered social landlord when the property is sold. Sellers of such properties are usually responsible for the legal fees and other associated selling costs now and that will continue to be the case when home information packs are introduced on 1 June 2007.
There are no plans to exempt key worker housing, shared equity housing or other low cost housing schemes from the requirement to obtain a home information pack when a property is sold. An exception is where the terms of the scheme entitle the RSL to nominate a subsequent purchaser from their waiting list. As there would be no marketing in such cases, a pack would not be required.
Where a new home is subsequently resold within the validity period of a National House-Building Council guarantee a full home information pack, comprising an Energy Performance Certificate, searches and other legal information, will be required. The seller will be authorised to include a home condition report if he or she wishes.
The response to the Department’s consultation on the Home Information Pack Regulations from the Ordnance Survey dated 21 December 2005 has been deposited in the House of Commons Library.
Where a Home Condition Report (HCR) is provided, the Home Inspector will carry out a visual inspection of the domestic wiring and electrical installation, and will report on any faulty wiring that is evident from the inspection. A condition rating will be given in the HCR, based on this inspection. The HCR will also contain a safety warning about the need for periodic inspection and testing, and advise that any electrical installation carried out after 1 January 2005 should be identified by an electrical installation certificate.
Information about standards of safety to which a property ought to/does comply is authorised for inclusion in the pack, so, for example, electrical safety certificates could be included as authorised documents.
We are also considering how such information can be included within the standard search process before the introduction of HIPs.
An assessment of the impact of home information packs has been published in a regulatory impact assessment which accompanied the regulations made under part 5 of the Housing Act 2004. This assessment will be updated in the light of the findings of a baseline study of the home buying process reporting later this year, and of information obtained during the dry run of home information packs.
The Bristol pilot study was designed to test the practical operation of home information packs and ran between December 1999 and July 2000. The study cost £315,000.
We are proposing to offer a range of incentives to encourage take-up and ensure that we learn as much as possible from the trials. This will include offering a limited number of free packs; packs in which the mandatory elements will be provided free to the seller if they pay for a home condition report; and packs provided on a “no sale, no fee” basis. The different offers will enable us to learn about different aspects of the reaction of both buyers and sellers to the packs as well as testing a series of practical issues.
The regulatory impact assessment which accompanied the regulations laid in June 2006 set out assessments of different costs. Revised estimates will be included in the updated regulatory impact assessment to be published alongside new regulations in early 2007.
This is not a devolved matter, but the Secretary of State has a duty to consult the National Assembly for Wales before making any regulations which relate to residential properties in Wales, and we did so. We formally consulted the Assembly on the proposed secondary legislation and regulatory impact assessment, and the Social Justice and Regeneration Committee discussed Home Information Packs at its meeting on 3 May 2006. We also conducted various informal consultations with the Welsh Assembly Government and the Welsh Language Board on the content of the secondary legislation.
We are working in partnership with the Association of Home Information Pack Providers. Key roles that it will perform will include ensuring that providers are in place to prepare packs and estate agents are recruited to offer them to home sellers.
The Department commissioned the COI Strategic Consultancy to investigate the impact of home information packs on ethnic and other minor groups, and the results were reflected in the regulatory impact assessment that was published in June 2006.
Independent research was commissioned in 2003 into the potential impact of the introduction of home information packs in areas affected by low demand and low value. This research was used to inform the regulatory impact assessment published in June 2006. Further baseline research has been commissioned, and there will be a report in October.
The Government’s policy is that mandatory Home Condition Reports (HCRs) remain on the table if the industry fails to make a success of the roll-out of HCRs. We will promote the voluntary take-up of HCRs, and have allocated £4 million to support their take-up and testing of Home Information Packs. Therefore Home Inspectors will still be needed, and job opportunities for Home Inspectors remain for those who have undertaken training. Moreover, the introduction of Energy Performance Certificates for the private rented properties will further enhance these opportunities.
The Government’s policy is that mandatory Home Condition Reports (HCRs) remain on the table if the industry fails to make a success of the roll-out of HCRs. We will promote the voluntary take up of HCRs, and have allocated £4 million to support their take-up and testing of Home Information Packs. Therefore Home Inspectors will still be needed and job opportunities for Home Inspectors remain for those who have undertaken training. Moreover, the introduction of Energy Performance Certificates for the private rented properties will further enhance these opportunities.
I refer the hon. Gentleman to my answer of 9 October 2006.
Trials will take place in Bath, Cambridge, Southampton, Northampton, Newcastle and Huddersfield. We are working with the Association of Home Information Pack Providers to organise the trials.
These trials will be independently verified. A further announcement will be made shortly on the selected contractor who will conduct the independent research.
Estimates of the number of Home Information Packs required by sellers are based on industry estimates of future home buying and selling. These are given in the following table:
Number Between June 2007 and August 2007 366,100 Between June 2007 and November 2007 779,100 Between June 2007 and May 2008 1,627,100
The number of trained home inspectors across England and Wales who will be required to produce energy performance certificates and the optional home condition reports for sellers will vary with seasonal demand and the local housing market. It is estimated that between 2,500 and 4,500 individuals working full or part-time would be required to satisfy demand for these.
More detailed estimates will become available as the percentage take-up of home condition reports is determined during the progress of the area-based trials.
The regulatory impact assessment which accompanied the regulations laid in June 2006 includes assumptions on costs. A regulatory impact assessment will be published alongside new regulations early in 2007. All these figures will be revised where necessary in the light of the dry run and other trials.
We have made clear that it is for industry in the first instance to take the lead in encouraging the take-up of home condition reports, and we will want to discuss its views on the way forward in the light of the dry run, area trials and experience of home information packs.
Further regulations and guidance will be published early in 2007 in order to implement the changes announced in July ahead of the planned introduction of home information packs from 1 June 2007.
(2) if the Government will produce a revised regulatory impact assessment on home information packs.
A revised regulatory impact assessment on home information packs will be published alongside new regulations early in 2007.
The proposed timing will allow the revised regulations to reflect initial findings from the practical experience of assembling and using HIPs in the area trials.
Further consultations will take place on any new regulations laid before 1 June 2007. Departmental officials continue to be in regular discussions with stakeholders about the implementation of the programme.
Home Condition Reports and Energy Performance Certificates will be lodged on an electronic register. Landmark Solutions has been chosen as the preferred bidder to set up the electronic register, which is expected be operational by November 2006.
The Regulatory Impact Assessment published in June 2006 assumed that AVMs or other methods other than physical surveys would be used in 38 per cent. of transactions.
We are undertaking a series of area trials from November, in partnership with the Association of Home Information Pack Providers, to help test both the packs and full Home Condition Reports. Regional campaigns will run simultaneously to support the trials, raise awareness and encourage voluntary take up. There will be independent monitoring of these trials, which will look at the level of take-up of voluntary HCRs. The results of these trials will be used to look further at the likely take-up of voluntary HCRs after 1 June 2007.
Additional resources of £2.43 million have been made available to local authorities in 2005-06, 2006-07 and 2007-08 for the purposes of HIP enforcement. Discussions with the LGA and the Local Authorities Co-ordinators of Regulatory Services are ongoing and the DCLG has committed to funding the one-off costs of training and development of staff, estimated at £50,000 by LACORS.
LACORS submitted responses to the public consultations on the draft Housing Bill on 9 June 2003 and to the draft Home Information Pack Regulations on 29 December 2005. In addition, DCLG officials have had regular meetings with LACORS on the enforcement provisions for Home Information Packs.
[holding answer 11 September 2006]: The Government's policy is that mandatory Home Condition Reports (HCRs) remain on the table if the industry fails to make a success of the roll-out of HCRs. We will promote the voluntary take-up of HCRs, and have allocated £4 million to support their take-up and testing of Home Information Packs. Therefore Home Inspectors will still be needed and job opportunities for Home Inspectors remain for those who have undertaken training. Moreover, the introduction of Energy Performance Certificates for private rented properties will further enhance these opportunities.
[holding answer 13 September 2006]: Information which has been made available to Home Inspectors since 18 July includes the following: (i) the statement to the House on 18 July; (ii) a press notice of 21 September (which can be viewed on the DCLG website); (iii) a statement released on 30 July (which can be viewed on the DCLG website); and (iv) a letter from the Home Information Pack Programme Director to Home Inspectors of 21 September.