Energy Performance Certificates should be removed from the HIPs pack, according to the judge hearing the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors application for a judicial review of Home Information Packs.

This latest move all but renders HIPs irrelevant following the announcement that their introduction is to be postponed from June 1 to August 1 and, even then, they will only be compulsory for homes with four bedrooms or more.

As with the June 1 deadline, properties will be able to go on the market without a HIP so long as one has been commissioned.

The government estimates it would need 2,000 energy assessors to introduce HIPs and EPCs on June 1 and 2,500 by the end of June. Its latest figures show there are 2,500 assessors in training while 3,200 have passed their exams, but only 1,500 of these have applied to be credited and just 520 are currently fully accredited.  

Data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders suggests that 17 percent of owner-occupied homes have four or more bedrooms, and will therefore require a HIP under the government's revised proposals.

CML Director General Michael Coogan said:

"We support energy improvement measures. But, in our view, HIPs are not a prerequisite for delivering the green agenda. With the fundamental lack of confidence that now exists in them, we urge the government to ditch the gold-plating and concentrate on better ways of delivering its objectives."

The move by the government may well have been precipitated by the prospect of losing the vote in the House of Lords. In addition there are problems with the software used by two of the four providers of Energy Performance Certificates.

Ray Boulger of mortgage broker John Charcol believes a longer postponement would be beneficial.

"The solution to the HIPs problem is very simple," Boulger said. "The deadline for complying with the EU Directive to bring in the EPC is not until January 1, 2009 and so there is plenty of time.

"All the government needs to do is to make all aspects of the HIP voluntary except the EPC, i.e. go one step further than they did last year when they made the HCR voluntary. Those vendors who believe that the cost of including some or all of the voluntary information in the HIP will be worth incurring to help sell their property will be free to do so and those who don't can just include the EPC.

"If enough people believe the full blown HIP is such a good idea, the market will start demanding it. If not, sellers who think it will give them a competitive advantage will be free to offer their home with the full HIP."

Source: The Move Channel