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Beckett gives failing HIPs a makeover with new questions
Nicholas Cecil, Chief Political Correspondent8 Dec 2008
HOUSING minister Margaret Beckett today unveiled a major shake-up of home information packs after admitting they were not working.
She axed plans to force homeowners to include local searches in HIPs before they put their property on the market. But the new "basic HIP" will include a questionnaire covering flood risk, car parking, service charges, gas and electricity safety and any structural damage.
The packs, though, will not contain a home condition report, as originally proposed, or local searches for up to 28 days - raising fresh questions over whether the policy is helping or hindering the market. The questionnaire will also include leaseholds, replacing previous HIP requirements.
In what will be seen as a damning indictment of the HIPs scheme that she inherited, Mrs Beckett stressed the changes were being introduced to make HIPs work "as well as possible",
She said: "Home information packs are potentially a vital aid to consumers, and I am firmly committed to ensuring they work as well as possible. It is essential that all buyers are able to see the HIP as early as possible."
Home sellers currently only need to have commissioned a HIP before they go to the market but from next month they would have needed to have one already. This is now being extended to April.
Reader views (6)
As an ex local government officer of 25 years who is now in private industry, I never fail to be amazed by the mentality of government officials who are deluded into thinking that they know better than anyone else. And more worrying is the fact that the more evidence there is of a pointless exercise the more hell bent they become in continuing the process.
The whole HIPs process is nothing more than red tape and most people take no notice of it or what it contains. It is, like so many other things the public have to do, a pointless bureaucratic exercise that ticks a box. That box is the energy performance certificate which again nobody takes any notice of. Yes I agree we should, but do officials really believe that people spending large sums of money do not realise what the running costs of a house are and even if they did the purchaser will be more influenced by other factors rather than this.
- John H, Norwich, 03/04/2009 12:27
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The control freakery of this bankrupt government is unbelievable. How long will it be before Ms Beckett requires these ridiculous HIP's to be provided for her beloved caravans?
- Graham, Reading, England, 09/12/2008 12:32
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Nigel,
Over exaggerating prices to reinforce you argument actually has the opposite effect. Our firm - Greenwich Energy Surveys - produces HIP's for £245 inc VAT and I am very pleased about the announcement made today as it will make the HIP far more useful for buyers. Well done Margaret.
Kind regards, Guy
- Guy, London, 08/12/2008 20:27
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Just what we need - more red tape in a falling market.
- Jeremy E, London, 08/12/2008 18:35
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This another example of an incompetent Government.
- William, London, 08/12/2008 17:31
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Isn't it utterly obvious that at a time of falling house prices, making it necessary for a homeowner to pay an extra £600 for a HIP just to put the property on the market, is guaranteed to cause all but the desperate to decide to stay put? The housing market is now completely frozen. What a surprise.
HIPs were a big nail in the coffin of the house price boom. They need to be scrapped now more than ever.
- Nigel, London, 08/12/2008 16:47
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