CPS Homes

Home Information Packs (HIPs) Suspended!

If you are considering selling your property, then CPS Homes has some great news for you; selling your home just got easier, and less expensive!

The coalition Government has today announced the suspension of the use of Home Information Packs (HIPs) by home sellers.

HIPs were introduced in 2007 in England and Wales.

The aim was to speed up the house selling process by obliging sellers to provide much of the required conveyancing information when properties were first put up for sale.

The packs are paid for by sellers and contain property information, title deeds, and local searches.

"Today the new Government is ensuring that Home Information Packs are history," said Housing Minister Grant Shapps.

"By suspending Home Information Packs today, it means that home sellers will be able to get on with marketing their home without having to shell out hundreds of pounds upfront. We are committed to greener housing so from now on all that will be required will be a simple energy performance certificate," he added.

The requirement for packs will be suspended for anyone selling their home from 21 May, with the Government needing legislation to outlaw them completely.

The energy performance certificate, which ranks the energy efficiency of a home with A to G ratings, will be retained and must be produced by the seller within 28 days of putting a home on the market.

Those working in the house sales industry have welcomed the move.

Estate agents claimed the packs, which typically cost between £299 and £350, were stunting the housing market recovery, as they deterred people from putting their home on the market just to test the water.

"It will be greeted enthusiastically by both the housing market and house buyers, few of whom have paid much attention to these pointless packs," the National Association of Estate Agents said.

"It is also good news for sellers. They no longer need to shell out hundreds of pounds for a piece of pointless regulation that benefits no one."

Gillian Charlesworth, of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), said; "HIPs have failed to address the significant problems in the home buying process they were originally supposed to tackle and the RICS is pleased that one of the first acts of the new Government has been to clearly show their intention to abolish them.

If you need further advice on sales then please contact our Sales Department on 02920 454 555

This article is derived from the original published for the BBC, and can be found here .

20 May 2010

The information contained within this article was correct at the date of publishing and is not guaranteed to remain correct in the present day.

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