17/09/2008 by Stuart White.

One good bit of news - seems to be coming out that the Rental market is still very strong. Recent ARLA figures - see links “Private Rented Sector Continues To Flourish” - from 9th September, back this up. Void periods are less than 4 weeks a year and tenancies are longer than 16 months. Prices being paid are also increasing. Full details on the link.

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15/09/2008 by Stuart White.

Breakfast TV, is alive this morning with stories of households struggling to get their names on a waiting list, to be surveyed and then assessed for the Energy Saving Grants that were announced last week.

I hope the Government decide to use the vast pool of DEAs to help with this assessment task. After all we are qualified and have been security CRB vetted and can respond quickly in our local areas. The problem with then be; administration of the schemes and implementation. But, most households won’t have any extra insulation in-place for this Winter.

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12/09/2008 by Stuart White.

I heard some useful comments on Radio 5 Live yesterday. A tenant was saying that the announced energy efficiency  subsidies won’t always help out tenants. The forthcoming legislation, to have an EPC in place, may change the marketplace for those tenants wanting a better deal for a more energy efficient home. At least new tenants will be able to make an informed decision.

Landlords are understandably nervous that a poor EPC rating will cause them expense in order to improve their property - but at least 50% of the improvement cost will be met by the announcements made yesterday. As always the devil’s in the detail - and we haven’t seen how this scheme will work.

Does anybody know how to apply for a subsidy?

How will these be handed out? First come , first served?

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10/09/2008 by Stuart White.

On Monday I took a call from the Daily Telegraph, I was very excited - they are running with an Energy Supplement this coming Thursday and they wanted to position energy from a new angle - rather than the Green generation of energy. I knew that my home energy was only covering a single Shire in England and a National Newspaper was calling me!!

But ultimately they were only looking for recruitment advertising, so my enthusiasm wained a little  and then I went back to the task of finding business and publicity once more. Still it’s nice to know that I’m being found.

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05/09/2008 by Stuart White.

Gordon Brown’s recent comments not to pay out Winter fuel payments to ease the recent price rises - have caused a stir. He’s focusing on fuel and energy efficiency to tackle root causes and a long term fix.

What implications this has - is still unclear - but any EPC will be used as a marketing tool by landlords this season. The EPC will provide a useful point of difference.

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03/09/2008 by Stuart White.

I took our second car to an auto electrician this week. He fixed the fault within the hour - it was a fairly simple job for him to do. The cost of his service? £51 for an hour’s work plus VAT. Total cost £60

I recently had to pay a call out charge on the central heating boiler - again a very easy job for the service engineer to fix and minimum call out charge of £66 inc VAT applied. He was gone within 30  minutes.

Now whilst this last example is extreme - trade rates of around 50 quid an hour - for skilled services seem to be normal in Herts.

Surely Domestic Energy Assessment has to be priced around about the same?

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01/09/2008 by Stuart White.

I was pleased to see an article in the property section of the Herts Advertiser this weekend from a local letting agent Darwoods. There they were estolling the virtues of getting an EPC in place before the 1st October legislation so to reduce any extra void time between lets.

I know a lot of DEAs have been saying this for some time - but of course we are always accused of “talking up” the market. So it’s nice to see a Letting agent endorsing this message too.

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