DEA Misses (obvious) Wall Thermostat - BBC Report

Obvious omissions will hurt profession

Submitted by: MikeC (Admin) on 21-Dec-07 04:44:47 PM

TonyCop has just flagged this on the HomeInspectorForum.

A Worcestershire man selling his house claims that a mistake in his Home Information Pack could cost him many thousands of pounds.

BBC News Player - HIPs could lose sellers cash

The DEA (from a company called SSH), allegedly didn't spot a wall thermostat in the lounge. As you can see in the report, it was bloody obvious, even to a layman.

Reports such as this have been anticipated for some months now but despite those warnings, here we are.

Quite frankly, if a trained, qualified, and accredited DEA cannot spot a friggin' wall thermostat in a living room - no, not some dark cupboard! - then the whole battle over EPC fees becomes mute.

Why should homeowners pay someone even a fiver to do something they could do more accurately themselves?!

With more and more Panels and Accreditation Schemes beginning to openly voice concerns over the competency of some DEAs, coupled with media reports punching it home to viewers, it's time to sharpen-up.

Some DEAs, no doubt, will blame having to rush assessments because of low fees and the knock-on need to perform 4-6 jobs a day. I will paraphrase Philip Salaman (Quidos MD) from the DEA Podcast:

If a DEA feels they are not competent to do the job, then they should not do it...

... or words to that effect.

Posts: 1

Re: Obvious omissions will hurt profession
Reply #1 on : Sun December 23, 2007, 19:37:52

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The big question is: Why had not a single DEA/HI had their accreditation revoked for being incompetent? There is no way that 100% of EPCs have been carried our correctly as evidenced by this BBC report and previous reporting in the wider press.