It also squarely placed the blame on the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors for launching a judicial review, effectively preventing the introduction of energy performance certificates by the original HIPs launch date.
Although the department says it is “sorry” for the delay, it has said that the number of fully accredited inspectors stands at just 520, compared to 2,000 required for implementation at 1 June. The DCLG has chosen here to point the finger at “parliamentary arguments and misinformation in the media” leading to people delaying applications for final accreditation. Meanwhile, the industry will spend the Bank Holiday weekend totting up the cost suffered by the announcement on Tuesday. Commenting on the decision to delay implementation of HIPs, in an open letter from the DCLG from Neil McDonald, director, home information packs implementation: “This was a difficult decision to take… However, we had to make a judgement on what was right for consumers and the housing market.”
