Get the regulations made and laid, says SAVA

SAVA is calling on the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) for a speedy turn-around for the forthcoming regulations that will bring surety to the market for Home Inspectors.

On the eve of its Annual Conference, SAVA is calling on the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) for a speedy turn-around for the forthcoming regulations that will bring surety to the market for Home Inspectors.

Brian Scannell, managing director of SAVA, says: "We are waiting for draft regulations from the ODPM that will describe how the Home Inspector Certification Scheme will be set up and run and that will provide the vital secondary legislation to last year's Housing Act.

But please - no protracted consultation.

We need these regulations to be made and laid before Parliament before Christmas.

"SAVA has a large number of Home Inspectors becoming qualified right now, and the rush to market among Home Information Pack providers is getting more frantic day by day.

People are investing large amounts of time and money to get ready for next summer's dry run - what we need now is to see a 30-day consultation, a quick turn-around and the political process complete so we can start the New Year with surety".

The SAVA Annual Conference is being held this week (13-14 October 2005) in Warwick.

The event is fully booked, with demand significantly exceeding the 120 delegate capacity.

This reflects the strong interest among prospective Home Inspectors and from estate agents, conveyancers and other housing professionals who need to understand the detail of the big changes about to take effect.

Speakers at the SAVA conference will include Richard Footit, head of the Housing Markets Division at the ODPM, Ian Turner, chairman of the newly-formed Association of Home Information Pack Providers, and Hugh Dunsmore-Hardy, chairman of the National Association of Licensed Home Inspectors.

In addition to the main conference, workshops will cover in depth issues such as understanding defects and warranty cover on new and converted homes, the latest advances in software for Home Inspectors, calculating reinstatement costs, the technical problems caused to properties by trees, and a variety of topics relating to employment opportunities for Home Inspectors.

The conference is sponsored by The Live Organisation, part of the First Title Group and provider of residential conveyancing to independent estate agents.

Tim Price of Live will run a workshop for delegates on the group's insights into what Home Inspectors can expect when real packs are introduced in 2007, based on its experience of providing over 30,000 sellers packs for clients over recent years.

Delegates will also hear more about SAVA's Home Information Pack pilot scheme in Southampton, and its extremely popular Fast Track Programme which is providing an innovative and intensive education, training and assessment programme for prospective Home Inspectors so that even new entrants to the industry without previous residential surveying experience can become fully qualified in just 12 months.

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