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HIPs are HistoryIn an important step to aid the fragile recovery in the housing market, the new government has suspended the requirement for homeowners to provide a Home Information Pack (HIP) when selling their homes. This order is pending primary legislation for a permanent abolition; however, effective from 21 May 2010 both vendors and agents are no longer required to have or to provide copies of HIPs. Today, Richard Stronach, H&H King Director commented “this announcement sends a clear message of encouragement to people thinking of selling their home that they can now put it on the market with less cost and hassle. From an independent agent’s point of view, the lack of an available HIP tied our hands and increased sale preparation time. Now if our clients are keen to go ahead with a quick sale, then we can once again act very quickly on their behalf and more importantly we can contact potential purchasers at a much earlier stage”. Suspending HIPs will reduce the cost of selling a home, remove a layer of regulation from the process and provide a welcome help to the housing market during the recovery. It will also mean a saving for consumers to the tune of £870m over ten years, giving sellers more money in their pocket to spend in the wider economy. Helping people to reduce their energy bills is still a priority and sellers will therefore still be required to commission, but won't need to have received, an Energy Performance Certificate before marketing their property. |
