Helping Innovate Property (HIP) – Blog, Housing Market News and Articles

The Property Information Questionnaire (PIQ) will be shortly rolled out after the draft version was produced and the related consultation was completed and added to the legislation.

There does not seem to have been vast modification to the document and legislation since we published the last article regarding the Property Information Questionnaire in August. However, the planned implementation of the PIQ was intended for the the 1st January 2009 however this has been delayed to 6th April 2009 to allow the industry to prepare for the addition to the Home Information Pack Legislation.

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Due to a number of requests, we have added the ability to subscribe to our blog via email and receive updates when we post a new article. As part of this addition we are running a fun,  promotional feature.

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An interesting initiative by the Scottish government sees an annual prize of £1million offered to the winner of the best scheme for improving energy efficiency. The Scottish Energy Efficiency Design Awards, as they will be known, invite applications from April this year, and the scheme was announced by Scottish Minister for the Environment Michael Russell.

It is said that Scotland is home to a large proportion of ‘hard to treat properties, with the government citing some 650,000 homes, or 28 percent of total housing stock, as being within this category, hence the initiative is seen as driving inspiration for further investigation and research into energy efficiency in the home.

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Mortgage rates are at the lowest rates for years which many home owners are benefiting from, however are we forgetting about the large number of savers?

Amidst the slashing of interest rates from 5% since October last year to 1% which has largely been reported on in regard to home buyers, many savers are seeing their income from their nest eggs almost disappear.

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The recent move by the Bank of England to cut interest rates to an all but unprecedented one percent has been followed by the less typical action of several lenders who chose to pass the cuts on to their customers. The Skipton Building Society, along with the Halifax and the Nationwide, immediately slashed their rates, and with further interest rate cuts forecast by industry analysts it remains to be seen just how low the Bank of England can go.

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For those technically minded we have recently upgraded our blog to wordpress 2.7 from 2.5.1. Whilst we were happy with the general performance of 2.5.1 I did had concerns we would be left behind with new additions to 2.7. and was very curious to see the expanded additions in the interface.

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Continuing Professional Development continues to be a ‘hot topic’ within the domestic energy assessor industry; with accreditation schemes auditing their members and DEAs looking to provide evidence of the required CPD hours.

We were very happy to announce we had been asked to help design a website for Continuing Professional Development for those in the industry in a previous article ‘What is Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for Domestic Energy Assessors?’; and even more pleased to be able to say it is now live !!

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It would appear that guides on selling a property abound both on the internet and in other literature; yet to find advice on how to buy a house is seemingly difficult. Often buyers found they made decisions for the wrong reason, so here we take a look at some important points to be considered when looking for that dream home.

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A look at a newspaper or a listen to the daily news may give the impression that mortgages are as rare as hens’ teeth, but the truth is somewhat different. It is possible to get a mortgage, even in these days of financial crisis and house price gloom, but it remains to be said that certain criteria need to be met.

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The most recent comments to emerge from the government has been that of Margaret Beckett, Housing Minister, who implied that there were signs of recovery in the market and advised first time buyers to snap up bargains.

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The winter months are when ones attention is turned to keeping homes warm yet many homeowners will be turning on dormant heating systems that could be operating far more efficiently with the help of a few affordable maintenance tips.

Householder’s should keep a close eye on the efficiency of the insulation that is present in the property as a great proportion of heat is lost through poorly insulated walls, windows and heating systems.

In a typical British home, around one-third of the heat produced by a central heating system is rapidly lost through the roof, ceiling and walls. This means that for a poorly insulated property up to £1 out of every £3 spent on heating is being wasted.

So what can the average homeowner do without spending a fortune?

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