Everything about Home Information Packs (HIPS)

Extra £1,000 bill for new home information packs Melanie Wright
SELLING your home is an expensive business when you add up what you pay estate agents and solicitors - before you even call in the removal men.

Results from a survey of over 1,800 home sales in England and Wales show that despite its high cost the Home Information Pack, due to made mandatory from June 2007, will fail to prevent deals falling through.

Leading anti-pack campaign group, SPLINTA (Seller Pack Law is Not the Answer) analysed 1,870 property transactions set up in February 2006. By the middle of May 1,272 (68%) had successfully proceeded to exchange of contracts. 352 (18.8%) sales had fallen through, leaving 266 (14.2%) properties withdrawn or still on the market.

A new body bringing together independent conveyancers, estate agents and other property professionals, who support moves to comprehensively improve the selling and buying process, says the Government is confusing everyone with its plans to introduce home information packs.

Two thirds of the public interviewed haven't heard of Home Information Packs, according to a new study carried out by ICM. And only one in three of those who have heard of HIPs realise that HIPS will contain legal documents such as the title documents and local searches.

Homeowners will face chaos and hundreds of pounds in fines when Home Information Packs are introduced to the property market this time next year, experts claimed yesterday.

Mr. Greg Hands (Hammersmith and Fulham) (Con): I am pleased to have this short debate on home information packs, better known as HIPs. This is not the first time that they have been debated in this place and it will probably not be the last. Given the number of hon. Members who wish to speak, I shall try to be brief and not cover all the objections that I and others have to HIPs. Suffice it to say, they are included in early-day motion 2240, which is entitled “Introduction of home information packs” and was tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove). I also pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Bridgwater (Mr. Liddell-Grainger) for his recent excellent ten-minute Bill on the subject.