Published on : Thu, 28 Apr 2005 00:00GMT
by : Lisa Pitt

At a discussion in the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) last week, John Hayes, the shadow minister for housing and planning told estate agents that proposals for mandatory Home Information Packs (HIP) would be dismissed if the conservatives formed the government. Labour had proposed to make HIPs compulsory after 2007.

Hayes was quoted saying, "A Conservative government would……suspend this scheme immediately. We would cut red tape for people wanting to sell their homes, and we would put to rest once and for all the idea of Home Information Packs."

The Chief Executive of the NAEA, Peter Bolton King, stated that the conservatives had been quite daring in their proposals for scraping the HIPs, and their offer could appeal to quite a few estate agents who were also dissatisfied with the HIP proposal, or “unhappy at the way the current government is planning to reform the house buying and selling process.” He added saying that the powerful sentiments of the numerous estate agents regarding the HIP plans ought to be considered by the Prime Minister, Tony Blair and his colleagues.

HIPs i.e. Home Information Packs implied that anyone who was considering selling their house, before putting their house up for sale would have to first produce an information pack that would furnish buyers with all essential information about the house, including the Home Condition Report survey created by a Home Inspector.

While the proposition of HIPs was welcomed by consumer groups who felt that these packs could decelerate undue delays in home sales, home sellers in the market had their eyebrows raised over the cost the packs would entail besides the affect they would have on potential buyers.