Compiling a Home Information Pack #1 Do it yourself

Pre-HIPs, when I bought a house, my primary concerns were its location and other personal preferences. Whether it was double-glazed, insulated or whether the boiler was old or new were obvious as I HAVE EYES IN MY HEAD. It was my responsibility to consider the importance to me and the cost implications of these issues. I was quite happy to do so. Its called common sense - a thing of the past.

The only positive thing which COULD have come out of this idea but DIDNT was the introduction of vendors carrying out the actual property surveys (which are a requirement rather than a desirable) rather than repeat surveys being carried out by potential buyers.

This is without doubt yet another stealth tax. Get this Government out. If the Conservatives promised to scrap this stupid idea then they would definitely attract more voters. Just get surveys included with the sale particulars. Simple.

Pay £500 for a HIPs to tell you a property has no loft insulation? The ironic part is it would cost you less to insulate it.

I will NEVER vote for this Government again. Shambles.

Sorry..going to school for 3 days and doing a home study does not qualify a person to be skilled, any idiot could do that. Anybody who has no building skills or apprentice trained related skills should have anything to do with EPC. I would suggest a corgi registered engineer look at the boiler and the controls and the hot water tank and the thermostat.
If you need an EPC then check out the qualifications.

I had a HIPs and being an engineer myself it was obvious that the EPC guy had no idea. I caught him out a few times. My advice..make sure you know the full employment history and if not a fully qualified engineer then chuck him out.

Agents in my area are using HIPs as a way of locking buyers into longer-term contracts. They say the HIP is "included in their fees", but if you try and leave them they expect to be reimbursed at a premium rate for the HIP (I was given a figure of £600), which puts people off.

Funny, isn't it, how HIP providers have so quickly got into bed with solicitors and estate agents. As with financial advisors, who are frequently attached now to chains of estate agents, they're all on the gravy-train of guaranteed work via inertia selling to housebuyers and sellers. I'm now selling my third house in the HIP-era and I'm finding it is actually pretty difficult to find a genuinely independent HIP provider or someone who doesn't force you to have these stupid Flood Risk analyses (my houses are on a hill, so the flood risk is, er, zero - buyer, use your eyes).

I'm also finding solicitors have, if anything, *increased* their fees in response to HIPs, not cut them. The fact searches expire after six months is also a pain - when chains drag on and break, usually due to a poor-quality buyer, it's very easy to have a property on the market for more than six months, which means doing the searches again.

Drew01 seems to think that a qualification as a Domestic Energy Assessor is inferior to a Home Inspector.
As a DEA, I would like to reassure people that we are as equally qualified to provide an Energy Performance Certificate as a Home Inspector.
A Home Inspector is also qualified to provide the voluntary Home Condition Report, which a DEA is not.
I decided not to waste money and qualify to do something which will not take off!
As a building professional for 40 years, I do not regard myself as inferior to a Home Inspector - only less qualified!
Drew01's attitude is pure professional snobbery!

In response to DREW01 - I'm a qualified Domestic Energy Assessor with over 10 years experience as a Building Surveyor. I'm sorry that you feel that Energy Assessors are less qualified than yourself but taking a Year out to study, in my opinion, does not constitute a 'qualified Surveyor'. May I retort to your statement by saying that with all due respect, the EPC IS the most difficult part of a legal HIP pack to perform and the rest IS NOT ROCKET SCIENCE!!! My company (homevolution) advises its clients to undertake their own searches (much cheaper), and we help if they need it. Perhaps you feel cheated because you've spent an inflated amount of money training to perform the HCR which seems to be unneccesary so far??

Oddly, I haven't seen anything to suggest that Energy Performance Certificates are a 'waste of money'.
It is now fairly standard to compare energy efficiency ratings for appliances, and EPCs now appear on cars.
EPCs are not going to be the sole determining factor when buying a house and it is facile to suggest it; however it becomes a factor.
Furthermore, you wouldn't buy a car without 'full service history' and car sellers routinely provide bills, receipts and guarantees.
Apply this sound practice to a transaction with more zeroes on the end and it makes very good sense indeed.

Well actually the majority of us are qualified. I have gained a level 4 diploma and taken a year out of my life to train. I am a professional person with all the insurance and support that you would expect, Some people are not as qualified, as they have only bothered to learn the EPC side. Where a lot of us have under taken the full Home Condition education. May I suggest the you contact a fully qualified Home inspector, and not a sub qualified Domestic energy assessor.
Such as: http://www.hiphiphooray.com/
http://www.hipassociation.co.uk/home.aspx

There used to be a principle in this land commonly referred to as 'buyer beware'. This promted a certain sceptism whereby a buyer considered carefully what information was proferred and made him use that grey matter commonly found between the ears.
Unfortunately, like the man who trips in the the street because he can't be bothered to look where he's going and blames everyone but himself, there must be blame attached to poor decision making.
The invention of HIPs is a logical consequence of an attitude that says 'I can make whatever decisions I want but I expect someone else must do all the work and carry the can if I get it wrong'.
However, in the case of HIPs, the buck stops with the seller. I don't see the water companies or energy assessors being culpable for bad surveys.
And as for estate agents not accepting HIPs prepared at home, I would ask, what has it got to do with them?

Re-Jason of havant- What has a washing machine got do with the energy efficiency of a house or property? you are talking out of your A--- As for water searches it is another con trick by the water authorities, all that information should be with their engineering departments, and why would someone with a septic tank go to the expense of hooking up to the mains, It is purely a stealth tax used by a typical Labour government who is in hock up to its eyeballs.