Hips should be scrapped says Shapps

Conservative shadow housing minister Grant Shapps has promised that Home information packs will be scrapped if his party comes to power.

[UKPRwire, Thu Oct 04 2007] Mr Shapps said that the packs had failed to speed up the home-selling process since their launch on August 1st and are going some way to increasing financial difficulty for many.

With the average Hip costing around £350, anyone looking for a quick property sale because they face repossession may struggle to meet the payment

The UK's leading fast property buyer National Homebuyers says there is another way. "Thousands who are seeking a quick sale with limited costs are encouraged to seek alternative ways to sell their home.

"As a private commercial buyer of properties, we do not require the vendor to have a Hips pack in place in order for us to make a formal cash offer to purchase their property.

"The traditional 'open market' route is draconian and full of delays, costs and stress".

The government has pledged to launch a full-scale rollout of the packs but Mr Shapps says that they should be abolished.

"The experts ridiculed them. The industry doesn't want them... and I can announce that the next Conservative government will scrap them," he told Conservative MPs.

The pledge was not well received by the Association of Home Information Pack Providers, which accused the Tories of trying to "disadvantage" first-time buyers.

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