Only the Government's complete incompetence can save us now
17 May 2007 - JG
Ahh! You couldn't make this one up. Home Improvement Packs. The Tories have tried to stop them. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors has tried to stop them. In fact the whole property industry pretty much has tried to stop them. Even Ruth Kelly has tried to stop them and it's her department! Where all others have failed, the Government's complete incompetence with IT systems may yet come to the rescue. According to the Times "-faulty software has thrown many of the training programmes for energy inspectors into disarray. It emerged yesterday that IT programmes to measure home energy ratings have failed to analyse the correct data.-" While two suppliers have had their software approved, two others — Property Tectonics and Northgate — are still waiting with only two weeks before the deadline! It also reports that IT programmes to measure home energy ratings have failed to analyse the correct data. Unbelievable!
The Times quotes Nicholas Leeming, director of Propertyfinder.com, who has said: “-The original policy objective to speed up the home-buying process has been lost amid the hot air of an environmental battle. Quite apart from the cost, the reported lack of energy inspectors is likely to cause serious delays for people trying to sell their home. We are currently seeing a rush to beat the deadline, but post June 1 we are likely to see the number of properties on the market to go into tailspin-." An avoidable disaster waiting to happen, if ever there was one. If the Secretary of State doesn't even back this ridiculous scheme, why on earth is it going ahead?! Unless the RICS judicial action comes to anythig, only the Government's complete incompetence can save us now...