Home Information Packs (HIPs) need considerable work before they are ready for the market according to a disparaging report by an Office of the Deputy Prime Minister Parliamentary Select Committee.
In its report the committee said: ‘Much more work needs to be done on the Home Information Pack before the Bill even gets a second reading.’ This view has been supported by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML).
Michael Coogan, director general of the CML, said: ‘The CML and others have been warning for some time how important it is to iron out these problems before rolling out the legislation. Hopefully the Select Committee report will now encourage the Government to work through the problem areas before introducing the Housing Bill into Parliament.’
The Select Committee said it was unclear whether HIPs speeded up the selling process, and proposed the cost should be deferred until the property has been sold, and not paid up front. The committee concluded that before their eventual introduction, HIPs needed to be tested more extensively, after the pilot in Bristol dealt with only 61 completed sales.
