Hips scrapped!
Love of them or hate them, Home Information Packs (Hips) have finally been scrapped from today. In a decisive move to cut some of the “pointless red tape that is strangling the property market”, the Conservative-Lib Dem Government has opted to get rid of the controversial Hips all together.
Sellers will still have to provide an official energy efficiency assessment of their property, but this is a fairly cheap and simple document in comparison.
So what does this mean to sellers and buyers?
Widely criticised by those within the property industry from the outset, Hips were seen as little more than an annoying obstruction. Now, sellers will be able to get on with marketing their properties without having to shell out the extra costs for Hips. This will mean that, typically, a seller will save around £250 on marketing.
Plus, it’s thought that the move will encourage more sellers to put their homes on the market, as due to the additional, up-front expense of Hips, many were put off speculatively marketing their properties.
As for buyers… well, it’s unlikely to make a huge difference to them, as it’s believed that house hunters paid little attention to the documents anyway – and seeing as Hips were provided for them, it makes you wonder how worthwhile the entire exercise has been!
On a sad note…
The decision will mean that a number of companies will go out of business overnight and thousands of people that have trained to deliver Hips will lose their jobs.
Let’s hope that the failed Hips initiative will encourage ministers to take more considered decisions on housing policy in future. Perhaps next time they may even listen to the advice of the industry itself.
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This has obviously been one of the talking points surrounding the new government and most reviews of this action seem to be positive thus far.
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