Vince Cable

There is reported to be a flurry of local house sales as residents and estate agents try to beat the 1st June deadline for the introduction of Home Information Packs. After that date it will compulsory for sellers to prepare a Pack for prospective buyers which will include an Energy Performance Certificate and, on average, will cost around £500. The Government has dropped an earlier requirement to include a Home Condition Report which would have added another £500 or more, but only after hundreds of people had been trained to carry out the work. In this part of London, no pilot studies have been carried out and as from 1st June hundreds of properties will have to be visited for the Energy Performance Certificates but no inspectors have yet been identified. Local estate agents are concerned that local home sellers and buyers could face costly and complicated new procedures in a few weeks time.

Vincent Cable MP said: "This is a well intentioned government initiative which has unfortunately not been fully thought through. The new legal statement in the Sellers' Pack will reduce delays in conveyancing and costs of multiple legal searches - which is good. The Energy Performance Certificates are also a good idea in theory but linking them to the point of sale threatens to create a big bottleneck in June. There has generally been a lack of planning and the big U-turn over Home Condition Reports has created a lot of ill-will amongst people who trained up specially to become inspectors. Also, by treating the estate agents as 'the enemy' the Government has undermined the very people who can make this new system work."