NEWS

Home Information Packs - Scrapped May 20th 2010

Home Information Packs (HIPs) are to be scrapped with immediate effect, the coalition Government announced today.

The unpopular packs — which contained information required before a seller could put their home on the market — was “pointless red-tape” that was “strangling the housing market”, the Housing Minister Grant Shapps said.

He was joined at a presentation by the Communities Secretary Eric Pickles, the television presenter Kirstie Allsopp and Philip Bullman, from the National Association of Estate Agents. A clause in the Housing Act 2004 allows the Government to suspend HIPs immediately, although primary legislation is pending.

HIPs were brought into effect in August 2007 in England and Wales for properties with four or more bedrooms, before being gradually introduced across the rest of the market.

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Homeowners and campaigners criticised the Labour policy, claiming that it had failed to help buyers and discouraged people from putting their property up for sale when the market needed a boost.

The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats pledged in their manifestos and in their coalition agreement to get rid of HIPs.

Energy Performance Certificates, which rate a home’s energy efficiency, will remain.

Nicholas Leeming, commercial director of Zoopla.co.uk, the property website, said: “There were serious concerns that a delay in the scrapping of HIPs would harm the housing market by deterring would-be sellers from putting their homes on the market.

"The Government has responded quickly. The hope is that the demise of HIPs will boost the housing market recovery and, in turn, create further employment in the sector.”

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