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Direct from Brussels, HIPS was legislated to be a Pan-European directive to help aid in the reduction of energy consumption and hopefully slow down global warming as well as being environmentally friendly.
A quick timeline of events with information from leading UK news channels.
2002 - European Parliament in Brussels passes the Energy consumption bill to be legislation in every member state by 2009.
From this date, up until one month before its projected launch date in England and Wales, it was debated in the House of Lords and also House of Commons as to how and when it should be implemented into the mainstream property market.
A house condition report is added into the pack
The house condition report is removed from the pack.
May 2007 - Gordon Brown publicly states that he is not a fan of the legislation. Estate agents are up in arms, due to the fact of the extra costs in selling a property, which comes about at the same time as two hikes in interest rates.
The Royal Society of Chartered Surveyors makes a legal challenge on the grounds of not being properly consulted by the Government in its implementation.
The main focus of HIPS is to try and get all European residential properties energy efficient to slow down consumption and preserve the environment. This is EU directive 2002/91/EC and will be enforced to be law throughout Europe by 2009. The Royal Society of Chartered Surveyors want this clause removed from the UK legislation (work that one out).
Government puts back the launch date by eight weeks to try and iron out the disagreements between different commercial bodies.
The energy certificate is publicly backed by Friends of the Earth and the WWF.
More updates as they develop will appear here.
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