Terms & Conditions

1. Services

The Energy Performance Certificate is being provided by East Sussex DEA Services located at Park View, 2 Lavender Close, Hailsham, East Sussex BN27 3WE

2. Access to property

An assessor will visit your property at the agreed date & time to carry out the assessment. This will be confirmed over the phone, in writing or by email. Access to the property must be provided by the homeowner & the means of access notified to the assessor before the assessment commences.

Vacant properties can be carried out by the assessor alone but assessors must be accompanied during visits to occupied dwellings. If access is not provided at the time agreed then an extra charge will be imposed for re-inspection of the premises.

3. Pre-inspection requirements

In order to carry out an Energy Performance Certificate assessment a number of pre-inspection questions will need to be answered by the property owner. The pre-inspection form must be completed & sent to our address or emailed before the assessment commences so as to arrive in time for the assessment. Alternatively this information can be given over the phone in urgent cases.

4. Risk Assessment

Before an assessment of the property is carried out, it is the homeowner's responsibility to ensure that the dwelling being assessed is in an acceptable condition with all areas of the property being accessable around the perimeter & throughout the internal structure. Any possible hazards to health should be removed. Examples of such hazards include asbestos, waste materials, dangerous chemicals, debris, wet floors, uneven paving, dangerous animals or any other detected hazards.

A risk assessment will be carried out on your property by the qualified assessor who will conduct the assessment in accordance with the accepted standards. If the assessor during this assessment feels that it is necessary to abandon the assessment, due to a serious hazard that may cause harm, then the homeowner will be informed of this. If a re-inspection of the property is necessary, due to the assessment being abandoned on health grounds, then this will be at the expense of the homeowner.

5. Fees

Fees are due for immediate payment as no credit terms can be given. The payment fee should be made by cheque payable to "East Sussex DEA Services" & sent to the address on our contact page. The fees are as outlined in our payment section & are subject to negotiation for out of hour services. Fees must be paid before the Energy Performance Certificate is made available.

6 Complaints

Any complaint received from homeowners relating to assessments not being completed to the satisfaction of the homeowner, will be reviewed & dealt with according to the procedures of our accreditation body Quidos. The assessor will contact you personally & deal with the complaint & try to resolve it initially. If this is not to the homeowners satisfaction then the complaint needs to be put in writing & this will be forwarded to our accreditation body Quidos who will investigate the complaint further. We adhere to our Accreditation body's complaints handling procedures an extract of which is provided on the link below.

Quidos complaints handling procedure

Energy Assessor Complaints Process
We would seek to address and resolve any initial complaint by telephone, email or in person. If you are unhappy with this we would ask you put the complaint in writing.  We will then acknowledge your complaint in writing within 7 days, and we will offer a resolution within 21 days.
If you are dissatisfied with our offer to resolve the complaint, the complaint will be escalated to the Certification Scheme, please be aware that you can escalate your complaint to the scheme at any time and you are at no time deprived of your legal rights. Complaints that are escalated to the Scheme are logged by the Scheme and dealt with in accordance with the complaints procedure set out in the Scheme Document and the Scheme Complaints Procedure.
We will provide the Certification Scheme with full details of all complaints, we will also keep a history of each complaint which will be made available to the schemeon request.
Unresolved complaints will be referred to an Independent Panel for resolution, the Independent Panel will consist of three members of Quidos Ltd who:

• have not been directly involved in the process and
• have no direct interest in the decision.

The Independent Panel decision is binding on the Energy assessor, but not to the complainant, who is still entitled to their legal rights.
There will be no cost to the complainant when a complaint is escalated through the Independent Panel.
Contact Details:-( Nigel Ives, 2 Lavender Close, Hailsham, East Sussex, BN27 3WE)
Address of my accrediting body:-

Quidos ltd.
10 Argyle Street
Bath
BA2 4BQ

Date:(15th December 2011)
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