Home Information Packs (Hips) still not fulfilling potential

Posted under General by Alan

Home Information Packs are still a subject of criticism. Joining the critics is the newly-appointed housing minister, Margaret Beckett, who acknowledged that Hips were yet not able to achieve what they were supposed to deliver.

Hips were developed to expedite selling and home buying process and to provide faster and cost effective service to consumers.

The cost of a Hip is £350 and it contains energy performance certificate, title deeds and searches.

Mrs. Beckett is probably the first housing minister who expressed concerns over Hip, while her predecessors were known supporters of the pack.

However, Mrs. Beckett is not in favour of abolishing Hips; she argued that it had some positive impact on the housing market and was successful to an extent, but she did admit that Hips were not up to their potential.

The Conservatives, who had been urging scrapping of pack since long, claimed that Hips made selling more expensive and involved excessive paperwork.

Those comments apart, estate agents had been appealing to the Government to review Hips in order to help badly bruised hosing market.

Hips are under severe criticism since their introduction in August 2007 and according to a YouGov survey they were branded a waste of time.

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