Thursday, May 20, 2010
Suspension of HIPs
HIP Consultant: Abolishing Home Information Packs (HIPs) – Facts & Fiction
The news is of HIPs being suspended today, though it does seem a little strange the emphasis is so strong on how this could benefit the property market. Was it not calculated HIPS were 0.2% of the buying and seling cost?
How can a government suspend a law such as this, does it not need to go through due process?
Posted by kaz @ 09:38 AM (1214 views) Add Comment
9 Comments
- If you do not have an admin password leave the password field blank.
- If you would like to request a password allowing you to add comments and blog news articles without needing each one approved manually, send an e-mail to the webmaster.
- Your email address is required so we can verify that the comment is genuine. It will not be posted anywhere on the site, will be stored confidentially by us and never given out to any third party.
- Please note that any viewpoints published here as comments are user's views and not the views of HousePriceCrash.co.uk.
- Please adhere to the Guidelines
1. uncle tom said...
Why don't these guys just pull down the shutters and move on..?
In opposition, the govt always said it would get rid of HIPS, so anyone who got into the business would have known it wasn't likely to last.
2. house said...
UT, How right you are.
3. Minder said...
Nice one, so anyone who has gone it to the business of hips is now redundant !
4. dill said...
Two points on this which came to my attention yesterday.
1. It's rumoured that the new Housing Minister may open a 100 day consultation period on HIPS. This is unsubstantiated but, if true, flies in the face of the original pledge.
2. The EPC, which is required under a European directive, only needs to be done once every ten years.
Scrap HIPS and make EPCs compulsory for all housing stock. That would remove the supply side restrictions that these policy measures were really designed to promote, and return the housing market to a more 'free market' base.
5. uncle tom said...
dill,
Consultation periods are nothing new. All new regs are supposed to have a consultation period, unless there is a pressing reason to move quickly. However, in this case there is nothing to stop the minister suspending the requirement during the consultation period - which seems fairly likely.
I suspect the EPCs could be shorn of their gold plating, and reduced to a form that any idiot could complete in five minutes..
6. dill said...
UT
Yes - there's provision in the Act to suspend. Thanks for the reminder.
7. dill said...
....and as I was typing - the news is delivered!
8. luckyjim said...
This was discussed on R5 earlier. Eric Pickles said they had decided not to have a consultation period as this would distort the market.
I do feel sorry for people who used their own cash to train up for a new career but this simply had to happen.
9. This comment has been removed as it was found to be in breach of our Blog Policies.