It is of course important that we all pull together and do as much as we can to reduce carbon emissions, but we must not forget the importance of making sure that information on the impact of existing climate changes and the prevention of the consequences of those changes are not overlooked.
Floods can not only cause substantial damage to property and land, but they can also as was seen in Cumbria lead to death.
Are we doing enough to inform the public of the risk of flooding and are enough preventative measures being taken to reduce the devastation they cause?
People can check the Environmental Agency Website to see if their property is in a flood plane and can get advice on available preventative measures. If moving home the seller is required to disclose within the Property Information Questionnaire within the Home Information Pack details of any flooding that may have affected the property during the Seller’s occupation and to confirm whether the seller has checked the Environmental Agency Website.
Unfortunately is does not in my view go far enough. Rather than record information on the Seller’s experience, details of this importance should play a far more prominent role in the delivery of information and documents within the Home Information Pack.
The Conservative Party has vowed to ‘bin’ the Home Information Pack. They say (without foundation) it is stalling the property market. They rely, it seems, on information and feedback not from the public, but from estate agents. It’s a shame this short sighted view of Home Information Packs exist as the consumer, as always seems to be the case in these situations, is being deprived of an excellent and ‘ready made’ vehicle for the delivery of upfront environmental information and documents .
The Conservative Party claims to be a ‘green’ minded Party. Well if it is why is it not looking at requiring a seller to include within the Home Information Pack any information it knows about the property relating to flood history, as well as insurance documentation showing that the property is insurable. In the same way as the energy performance certificate is to be used by Grant Shapps’ Party to trigger the ’refit’ loans perhaps the inclusion of this flood information and documents could trigger a similar type loan scheme loan to help the new owner to fund preventative measures.
The energy performance certificate could also be reviewed to include flood data and the threatened energy assessor profession could be deployed to provide information and advice on flooding when carrying out their assessments.
This should all sound like a common sense approach. The problem is that it is difficult to see that an idea of this sort would be welcomed by estate agents as they have it their minds that a property with a flood history written over it before it is placed on the market will be more difficult to sell. I can see the logic of this but the point is missed. Upfront legal and environmental information on a property helps and not hinders sales. If a buyer only finds about the flooding risk after making an offer and getting half way down the legal road to buying and then pulls out, the seller and agent will have not only lost time but also wasted costs.
Including information of this type delivered upfront in a Home Information Pack allows the seller to be totally transparent and to say that although the property has been flooded or could be flooded, it is insurable and better still has preventative measures in place.
Grant Shapps obsession with the Home Information Pack is obstructing and limiting his vision. This combined with heavy reliance on feedback and advice from estate agents only all amounts to bad news for the consumer and could perhaps even begin to influence voting decisions.
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