Lib Dems ask for Home Inspector Numbers & HCR Status

CLG respond to written questions

Submitted by: MikeC (Admin) on 10-Jun-08 02:34:12 PM

The Liberal Democrat's Shadow Housing Minister, Lembit Öpik, yesterday received three answers in response to written questions sent to Housing Minister, Caroline Flint, regarding the current status of the Home Condition Report (HCR).

How many Home Inspectors (HIs) are there?

Mr Opik asked: "How many qualified and registered home inspectors are in practice; and how many are in training."

To which Caroline Flint's response was less than certain:

Our latest estimate is that there are 822 accredited home inspectors, and 6,756 people registered for training.

Home Information Packs: 6 Jun 2008: Written answers (TheyWorkForYou.com)

To be fair, it would be difficult to specify how many HIs were actually practicing. If we were to take the latest published number of HCRs lodged up to May 1st 2008, which was 1776, it works out to less than 2 each, on average... hardly enough to qualify as a full time practicing HI.

But look at all those Home Inspectors registered for training!

Are HCRs still on the table?

Mr Opik asked: "...whether it remains Government policy that the home condition report should be a component of the home information pack."

Again, the Housing Minister's response was less than revealing:

The home condition report remains an authorised part of the HIP.

 

Home Information Packs: 6 Jun 2008: Written answers (TheyWorkForYou.com)

How many HIs would be needed if HCRs were required in Home Information Pack?

Mr Opik asked: "what estimate she has made of the number of qualified and registered home inspectors which would be needed if every home information pack contained a home condition report."

A safer question which can be safely answered, given that it's based on speculative forecasts:

We estimated, in July 2006 that up to 7,500 home inspectors would have been required if every home information pack contained a home condition report (HCR). This estimate was based on the assumption that many will not work full-time on preparing HCRs, and on the state of the housing market at the time.

 

Home Information Packs: 6 Jun 2008: Written answers (TheyWorkForYou.com)

Theoretically then, we could surmise that if all 6,756 trainees continued studying through to accreditation, there would just be enough HIs (7,578) to meet CLGs expectations.

Fusing theory into reality, however, is unlikely to be an easy task. With such a wide gap between the 822 accredited, and the 7,500 that the CLG felt comfortable with, it would be difficult for them to set any launch date this side of the next general election, with any faith it would be met, IMO.

Posts: 2

CLG resposes to questions
Reply #1 on : Wed June 11, 2008, 12:00:03

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" 6,756 registered for training" is an interesting phrase but what does it actually mean. Does it mean this number are on training courses and will, in time, become accredited? Or does it mean this number have expressed an interest in training were HCR's to become compulsory?
Should these people become accredited then presumably a DEA who does not retrain as an HI has even less of a chance of earning a living doing domestic EPC's!

The only other option would be to qualify for Non Domestic EPC's but will their full introduction be any easier come October?

admin
Posts: 1

Re: CLG respond to written questions
Reply #2 on : Wed June 11, 2008, 13:23:58

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Or does it mean 6,756 registered people somewhere in the HI training system who ditched that path to go down the EPC one instead, only to become part of the 11,000+ DEA hopefuls?!

DECs would seem to be the more "safest" career option ATM, in the current regime. Private build is taking a hammering.

Posts: 2

Police Checks on Assessors/ Inspectors
Reply #3 on : Thu June 12, 2008, 13:54:14

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It is vital that there is vigilance in having assessors /inspectors police checked - and that should be on the basis of the Enhanced Check that is required for certain occupations where the public is potentially vulnerable. I say this, in particular, since I am aware of one such assessor who is known by the police to have stalked and harrassed a woman and who would pose a potential risk in this respect.