Primemove.com found that the vast majority of home movers would disregard an energy efficiency rating that might be attached to a property, and, of those, nearly 90 per cent simply wouldn’t believe it.
The survey also found that 67 per cent of buyers felt that they would make energy improvements to a property when they moved in, but only if it would save them money.
Commenting on the results, Henry Pryor, founder of Primemove.com said: “The Government’s insistence that home owners provide Energy Efficiency Reports before a property is marketed is both unnecessary and a waste of energy itself.
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If they really think a buyer is going to amend his or her offer on a £200,000 home because it has a D rating rather than a C rating then they have completely misunderstood the current market where in some parts of the country there are five or six bidders for a property. A selling agent or vendor is unlikely to take a buyer seriously who wants £300 off the property price to put towards lagging the loft.”
The Primemove survey follows the report from the Better Regulation Commission, whose chairman Rik Haythornthwaite said: In our recent review of the regulatory aspects of the Stern report, we explicitly cautioned against ill considered regulatory responses to the climate change challenge. Here we have an example of proposals that are not part of a clear strategic framework and impose additional administration burdens with inadequate justification.
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We would like to see evidence that all options to minimise costs have been considered. These regulatory proposals, though aimed at reducing carbon emissions, fall short of our expectations for good regulation and, in particular, fail our recently recommended tests for better climate change policy.
Pryor added: “Having completed its most recent consultation on 21 February into the final preparations for the launch of Home Information Packs (HIPs) on 1 June, the government would be well advised to stop and listen. The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), the Council of Mortgage Lenders, and the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) have all spoken out against the proposed implementation of HIPs, and have all advised alternatives that would perhaps achieve the objectives better and, although the HIP now on the table is hardly recognisable from what was originally proposed, there are still clearly major problems.
What is proposed would appear to be of little help to the property buying public and is clearly regarded as unworkable by the governments own advisers. It’s time for some leadership here and for the government to put HIPs on hold while they work out what to do. Energy Performance Certificates are required under a European directive, but don’t actually need to be introduced until January 2009 subject to justification.”
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