Home Information Packs (HIP’s) have been suspended by the new coalition government.
Following through with a policy that had both Conservative and Liberal Democrat backing, Housing Minister Grant Shapps said: “Today the new government is ensuring that Home Information Packs are history. By suspending home information packs today, it means that home sellers will be able to get on with marketing their home without having to shell out hundreds of pounds upfront.”
HIP’s were introduced in 2007 in England and Wales. It was believed that they would speed up the house selling process by making sellers provide much of the required conveyancing information when properties are first put up for sale. The packs have been widely criticised by sellers and estate agents who believe that they have done little more than hinder the recovery of the housing market by reducing the number of new properties put up for sale.
If this is correct, we should see a significant increase in market activity over the coming weeks and months.
