Money Matters

Home information packs are one of the first casualties of the new coalition government and on the whole this decision has been welcomed as good news for the housing market. After all, sellers see them as an annoyance, buyers don’t ask to see them and solicitors often refuse to rely on the information they contain.

Very few people can say that the introduction of HIPs was not full of good intentions – they were designed to speed up the home-buying process and prevent people from pulling out of purchases further down the line. But the packs were ultimately diluted to the point where buyers and mortgage lenders did not have the information they needed – such as a structural survey – and they’ve been on borrowed time ever since.

In a note out about the decision to scrap HIPs, Nicholas Leeming, commercial director of Zoopla.co.uk, is calling for the government to act quickly to scrap these plans as a delay may cause homeowners considering selling to wait before putting their homes on the market. He says:

A reduction in the supply of homes for sale at this crucial stage in the housing market recovery would harm the revival.

He also says that the retention of Energy Performance Certificates is an environmentally positive move it is more about “complying with EU directives on reducing carbon emissions than helping home buyers and sellers” and that “the new government should now consider replacing HIPs with a simple pre-sales pack to include local searches and a draft contract for sale only.”

Liam Bailey at Knight Frank also believes the HIP decision could go further. He says:

The need to provide an EPC will remain and is still a hurdle to get properties to market. The objective must be to follow the French and Portuguese and require an EPC only when terms have been agreed on a sales – not prior to marketing.

Whatever happens to HIPs it is clear that all eyes are on the UK property market and how the new government’s policies will affect house prices.