The controversial home information packs (HIPs) that were introduced in December 2007 face renewed criticism as the Conservatives call for them to be scrapped.
[UKPRwire, Fri Jan 23 2009] The controversial home information packs (HIPs) that were introduced in December 2007 face renewed criticism as the Conservatives call for them to be scrapped. Tory MP Angela Watkinson said, “Now the housing market is so stagnant that estate agents are going out of business, you could take this opportunity to abolish these utterly superfluous HIPs without loss of face.”
In a heated Parliamentary exchange on Tuesday, housing minister Margaret Beckett defended HIPs and claimed they have “a real potential benefit to consumers”.
However she came under attack by Conservative housing spokesman Grant Shapps, who wanted to know why the former grace-and-favour home of Labour’s ex-home secretary David Blunkett was allowed to be on the market for four weeks without a HIP. While this is not illegal, since a property can be on the market for 28 days before a HIP is provided – as long as one has been commissioned – Mrs. Beckett herself had earlier criticised this practice and said she would close the loopholes which permitted it. A spokesman for Mrs. Beckett’s Department for Communities & Local Government said last December that no rules had been broken since a HIP had been provided within 28 days.
In response to Shapps’s question about Blunkett’s former Pimlico residence, Mrs. Beckett said she was not familiar with the case but that every property required a completed HIP before it could be sold.
As of April 2009, HIPs will be compulsory from the first day a property goes on the market.
The government has said it is very disappointed by the poor take-up rate of HIPs. But elements of the scheme, including the Home Condition Reports (HCRs) have been shunned even by government departments; a study last year showed that not a single Whitehall department selling property had commissioned an HCR (which are to be made compulsory this year).
Commenting on this revelation last December, Mr. Shapps said it showed “a devastating vote of no confidence in the Government’s own regulations”, and that ‘It is the height of Whitehall hypocrisy for Gordon Brown to be exploiting the HIP loopholes that Labour ministers have pledged to abolish for everyone else”.
The controversial packs typically cost the seller around £300 (though much more for large and leasehold properties) and take between four days and three weeks to complete. In these difficult times of falling house prices and poor availability of mortgages, this move will not be welcomed by already hard-pressed sellers and estate agents.
For press enquiries, please contact Phil Rendall on 020 7099 9026
Email: phil@dhbuyers.co.uk
Web: www.decisionhomebuyers.co.uk
News provided by Decision Homebuyers, a leading UK property company offering a quick and simple solution for selling your home, no matter what the condition.
Decision Homebuyers carries out daily surveys of the national media to provide up-to-date news and commentary on the UK property market.
