Hipright News

Landlords and letting agents are being urged to get ready now for the October 1st deadline when EPCs will be extended to the rental sector.

Any rental property undergoing a change of tenant after October 1st will require an EPC to be produced and a copy shown to the new tenant.  The EPC has a very long validity at 10 years and there is still much unease within the ranks of Domestic Energy Assessors who feel that the period is too long to cover what could amount to wholesale changes to the property, out of date energy costings on the certificate and an ongoing lack of work for DEAs.

David Lea of Hipright recently attended a workshop in London held by the Department of Communities & Local Government.  When questioned on the life span of the EPC, delegates were informed that it was part of a European directive and even if the government wished to change the length of validity they would need the current system to have run for at least five years before they would make any decisions on its future.

Although many landlords and agents will undoubtedly leave it until the deadline to act, it is expected that in light of spiralling energy costs, many will take the initiative and act early by getting EPCs commissioned on their properties and possibly use these to promote lower running costs or planned future energy saving initiatives for their properties to potential tenants.

Hipright is a national supplier of Home Information Packs and a supplier of Energy Performance Certificates throughout the Midlands.  For more information on HIPs & EPCs call Hipright on 0845 680 1875 or visit http://www.hipright.co.uk

April for Hipright saw a large increase in the amount of HIPs produced for private homeowners.  It would appear that the general public are increasingly becoming wiser about options for sourcing their packs, the increased flexibility gained from this and often the large cost savings associated.

Discussions with other industry leaders has also backed up these findings and we expect to see considerable increases in private instructions throughout the remainder of 2008.

Speaking at a recent meeting of Home Information Pack providers, Hipright partner David Lea commented “With the large recent increase of independent pack providers and a willingness from the public to search for alternatives, it seems that the once standard practice of sourcing the HIP from the Estate Agent is rapidly becoming a thing of the past.  

Whilst the agents will undoubtedly retain a very large market share for the foreseeable future, it is without question that smaller independent pack providers will continue to flourish and increase market share in what is still an incredibly tough market”

29/04/08  Hipright are pleased to announce that we now offer a full nationwide service on Home Information Packs (HIPs).  Commencing with immediate effect, we can now offer the outstanding service and quality of Hipright products to you no matter where you are located.

All our packs are fully insured, offer online viewing, are produced by experienced property industry professionals and can be used with any Estate Agent & Solicitor nationwide.  All this is backed up with a level of customer support second to none and a reputation built on service.   You can trust Hipright to deliver your HIPs on time, every time and at a highly competitive price.

Partner David Lea commented “This is a major step forward for Hipright and allows us to offer our products previously only available to those in the East Midlands to customers nationwide.  We have secured an excellent network of Domestic Energy Assessors to carry out our EPCs and we are very much looking forward to this new challenge for our company”  If you would like to speak to us about our new service then please contact Hipright on 0845 680 1875 or click for a quote at http://www.hipright.co.uk