Scrap HIPs, Tories urge
Property professionals
11th September 2008
The Conservatives have urged the government to suspend the controversial Home Information Packs (HIPs) scheme in an attempt to boost the property market.
HIPs were introduced in 2007 in an attempt to accelerate the home-buying process by making more information about individual properties available.
Shadow minister for housing Grant Shapps said government ministers had ignored industry warnings that HIPs would harm the economy.
"If Gordon Brown genuinely wanted to help the beleaguered housing market, he would use his powers to suspend this harmful regulation and save homebuyers money," he commented.
A legislative clause - included as a concession to the House of Lords - would allow ministers to suspend HIPs, although the department for communities and local government has insisted it has no plans to suspend HIPs.
The National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) also recently called on the government to review in the light of the current slowdown in the housing market.
While the NAEA is not calling for HIPs to be scrapped, they do believe the process needs to be made much simpler.
