Pressure on govt to extend Hips rollout

The government is coming under more pressure to extend the rollout of Home information packs (Hips).

[UKPRwire, Fri Sep 28 2007] An extension will be a blow for anyone in financial difficulty who wants to sell their property in order to free up some cash.

With the average Hip costing the homes seller around £350, there is sure to be a surge in people looking to make a quick property sale in order to avoid this unwelcome cost.

Someone who has inherited a home through a family bereavement, needs to free up some cash to pay for treatment due to ill-health or merely plans on moving abroad may wish to do so sooner rather than later.

Hips are already a mandatory part of the home-selling process for properties with three or more bedrooms but the Association of Home Information Pack Providers (Ahipp) wants a full-scale rollout.

"I call upon the government to extend the rollout to the remainder of the housing stock," said Ahipp director general Mike Ockenden.

"There are now over 5,000 fully accredited Domestic Energy Assessors (DEAs) ready to provide Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs), a substantially higher number than the Government’s target of 3,000 for the full national roll out of Hips," he added.

Julian King from National Homebuyers, a guaranteed fast property buyer says, "As a commercial private property buyer we do not require a Hips Pack to be in place to buy a property.

"The Hips rollout has been a bit of a fiasco and there are millions iof homeowners who are still confused over the requirement.

"If the government are to rollout the requirement to every home, we recommend that the government ensure that there is adequate marketing and information available to the homeowner, particularly those in financial distress" adds Mr King.

National Homebuyers are the UK's leading fast property sale company, guaranteeing to make an offer to purchase any UK property for homeowners who need a quick sale.

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