HIPs To Hit The Scrapheap?

Just weeks before the introduction of Home Information Packs, MPs are to be given the opportunity to scrap them.

MPs will have a chance to throw out Home Information Packs (HIPs) ahead of their introduction on June 1st, following a House of Lords report on Tuesday that questioned whether they were 'either sensible or worthwhile'.

The Government first proposed the seller's pack three years ago. The pack is supposed to make the home-buying process easier and more transparent by putting the onus on the seller to produce an information pack containing details of title deeds, local searches and planning consents before a property went on the market. The cost of the resulting Home Information Pack has been put at anything between £300 and £1,000.

Originally sellers were also expected to provide a home survey report but that plan was scrapped last year when lenders made it clear that they would not necessarily be prepared to offer mortgages on properties that they had not checked out themselves.

The Government decided to retain the requirement for an energy performance certificate in accordance with a European Union directive. However, even that move has been criticised because the EU directive only requires properties to have an updated certificate every ten years whereas some houses would be marketed more frequently. The report from the House of Lords committee, which scrutinises secondary legislation, suggested that the Government might even be implementing EU legislation 'inappropriately'.

Following written representations from major players in the industry such as the Council of Mortgage Lenders, the National Association of Estate Agents and the Law Society, the committee said their comments on the current version of HIPs showed at best scepticism and at worst hostility.

It's hardly surprising then that, as a result, the Government has been forced to give MPs an eleventh-hour chance on May 16th to discuss whether to implement HIPs or not. While the opposition is expected to vote to throw them out, it remains to be seen if there will be enough Labour MPs prepared to rebel against the party line and vote against the introduction of HIPs two weeks later.