News
Hip hip hooray – hips to go
News that the new Government is committed to abolishing Home Information Packs (HIPs) has been welcomed across the board by members of the property industry including key local estate agents. Necessity for the packs has been a controversial point right from their initial introduction with many estate agents claiming that the packs just created a further barrier to improvements for the housing market.
Mark Sumray Director of Benham and Reeves said ‘It was a poorly conceived construction of what is potentially a good idea. The HIP pack shows a commitment by the vendor and is a strong signal to estate agents and buyers that the seller is serious.’ Shane Perkins, Partner at Keats Estate Agents commented ‘it was always a waste of money and had a negative effect on choice, so we will not be unhappy to see yet another example of unnecessary bureaucracy removed.’
The National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) welcomed the news but Peter Bolton King, NAEA chief executive, warned that failure to implement the decision quickly would confuse consumers and the housing market.
The NAEA amongst others has long campaigned for HIPs to be scrapped, arguing that they have failed to benefit home buyers and actively discouraged sellers. The initial agreement between the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties committed the coalition government to the “retention of energy performance certificates while scrapping HIPs”.
Mr Bolton King said: “This is great news for the housing market and for house buyers, few of whom have paid much attention to these pointless packs.
“It is also good news for sellers, who will no longer need to shell out hundreds of pounds for a piece of pointless regulation that benefits no one.
It is important that the new Government acts on this commitment quickly as sellers are not going to be prepared to spend hundreds of pounds now if they feel they won’t have to in a few months so there is a genuine concern that any delay could cause the housing market to stagnate if thousands of people decide to hold off selling.
Do remember that at the moment, it is a legal requirement to arrange a Home Information Pack before you sell your property and your estate agents can advise you about that.
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