DCLG is consulting on plans to make the Code for Sustainable Homes rating for mandatory for new homes.

The Code was introduced as a voluntary code in England in April and making it compulsory was suggested in Building a Greener Future: Towards Zero Carbon Development. Now the Government is seeking views on:-

• making a rating against the Code mandatory for new homes;
• the connection between the Code and energy performance certificates;
• using home information packs as the mechanism for making the Code available to prospective buyers;
• updating the Code;
• the Code’s future content, including minimum standards for Lifetime Homes.
  The consultation paper says 61% of respondents to the earlier consultation supported making the Code mandatory and only 8% opposed it and now it wants to know how a mandatory rating would work. It also includes a partial regulatory impact assessment which estimates the average annual cost of a mandatory rating would be £5.2m and the annual benefit present value £4.3m.

“The Code provides a comprehensive picture of the sustainability of a new home,” says the paper. “It can be used by progressive home builders to differen-tiate the performance of their homes from the performance of others and gives consumers the information they need to be able to make sustainable choices.”
http://www.communities.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1511885