HIPs permanent abolition may go ahead without consultation

@ Peter

But Mike Ockenden accused Shapps of reneging on a promise. He said: “Over 3,000 jobs will go and 10,000 will be affected as a result of the suspension of HIPs and £100m revenue will be lost to the Treasury in VAT receipts.”


The new government already LYING.

thats great isnt it i must say i have lots of faith now!!! NOT.

Grant Shapps - Doesnt know right from wrong!

• 11 June 2010 14:31 PM

I just feel sorry for all those agents that were relying on HIPs to provide them with an income when they can't sell property because they have over-valued them in the first place! Or they use HIPs to lock vendors into their contracts stating that if they go to another agent, they must pay £450+Vat for the HIP, which only cost the agent £199. This industry is full of greedy scum and the sooner it is fully regulated, the better!
We have never made money from HIPs and have focused on the job in hand, selling property at sensible prices and making our money from that!

• 23 May 2010 12:19 PM

well well paper over the cracks , you must be the most ill informed person on the planet, the agent makes nothing unless the property sells, and an HIP contains info the lawyer receives anyway, and guess what ? buyers rarely if ever asked to see the 91 page job creating document, bye bye

• 21 May 2010 21:41 PM

So there's a clue, Pickles sponsored by DIY superstores...

The exchequer will be bulging now - all that VAT for home improvements and DIY stuff, paint, etc, takes the money off the seller - THEN pretty much everything that went into a HIP has to be paid for by the vendor, together with solicitor's and surveyors' services (plus VAT) and then they discover something they don't like - so they pull out of the deal wasting their money, releasing the property back onto the market by which time it needs a freshen up, so off we go to B&Q again, so the next purchaser can make an offer, find out the same faults as the first abortive purchaser, pull out again and on, and on, and on...

Guess who makes NIL money from this until there's actually a sale - ummm...that would be the estate agent wouldn't it?

• 21 May 2010 15:22 PM

I have been in the industry 20 years. So Labour stated that these packs would stop gazumping and speed up the process. Laughable their motives for bringing this in was more sinister than this. They tried it in 1998 (Sellers Pack) which alot of you on here probably dont know and it failed then, I piloted it. Banks refused to take the home valuations offered and the personal searches so it crashed. They rebranded it as the Hip and it failed on exactly the same things. So if it was tried once and failed and then again
in exactly the same format and failed again why did they bring it back? When it came back as the Hip after my previous experience with it i said it would fail and it did.
They took out the home valuation which made it worthless and people lost alot of money, so fool them. This i knew would happen how can someone be trained to value with no common sense then go out to earn some pin money ruin someones life because the house is better then theres. although we may sometimes curse surveyors they have completed the qualifications required noit some to bit day course and then out to value, banks arent going to accept that are they.
But companies seeing that the end was nigh still opened up hip companies even though the conservatives said they would abolish it.
People there is no easy quick fix to earning money.

• 21 May 2010 14:48 PM

Ange....
Nobody forced them to go in to the HIP industry. When starting the business or applying for the role, surely they would have been wise enough to research in to the industry they were getting in to!
Lets look at it another way, losing 3,000 jobs could eventually create more house sales leading to more vat income for the governement, therfore a better economy leading to further jobs down the line. These people will find other jobs but perhaps they will be more prudent when deciding their next career move!

• 21 May 2010 13:53 PM

Mike Ockenden - I do not usually use this type of lanquage but - just shut-up and retire out of the industry altogether!

• 21 May 2010 11:34 AM

How can it be right that Ministers and such are shown on televison grinning and pulling cheap stunts knowing full well that their actions are causing thousands of people to lose their jobs & possibly their homes?

• 21 May 2010 11:32 AM

I am REALLY looking forward to seeing this massive influx of properties to market which is being predicted! Frankly, cant see it myself unless you are banking on those folk quickly trying to sell their second homes before CGT goes up to 40% in April 2011.
Perhaps you are relying on speculative sellers then who cost many buyers hundreds of pounds and who are not genuine sellers in most cases.
A natural culling of estate agents and legal practices is the next step!! Hurray to that.

• 21 May 2010 11:03 AM

I note all those complaining about EAT reporting earlier this week - have gone remarkably quiet !! It was right to print those artilces as there is rarely smoke without fire

• 21 May 2010 10:09 AM

£100m in lost revenue? Teh, like the VAT on some agents illegal backhanders?

Many of the elements of a HIP will still have to be paid for and subject to VAT.

Okenden - stop moaning and go and get a job - Now you know how many of us left when HIPs were forced upon us. Its horrid when no-one listens.

• 21 May 2010 10:06 AM

Well good bye Hips, now all we have to do is try to get paid for all the Hips and searches we did last week and the early part of this week. I blame my company Pali for all this. We provided the searches for Evette Coopers Hip in the begining. If we had cocked it up or delayed the sale of her house maybe she would have had a rethink and not bothered. Ah well, "the best laid plans of mice and men gang aft a glay" in the words of a Scottish Hip provider.
Nick,snr.

• 21 May 2010 09:56 AM

Say one million Hips per year at £250 average = £43,750,000 vat. In all this worshiping of our Lord Grant, let's not forget that by another name the Hip was a Tory idea fifteen years ago. It was a good idea then but as soon as the opposition use it it becomes a bad idea. It will be interesting to see what son of Hip turns out to be.

• 21 May 2010 09:46 AM

Talk about a Government starting as they mean to go on. If they manage to undo the Government interference that has choked our industry while the bankers get richer than here here. It's about time someone reduced the burden instead of adding to it in the name of taxation.

• 21 May 2010 09:36 AM

But Mike Ockenden accused Shapps of reneging on a promise. He said: “Over 3,000 jobs will go and 10,000 will be affected as a result of the suspension of HIPs and £100m revenue will be lost to the Treasury in VAT receipts.”
Where does this man get these figures from they are ridiculous £100m in Vat may be I am deluded but does that mean HIPs revenue is in billions of pounds after all VAT is only 17.5% Cant be right !

• 21 May 2010 09:28 AM

This common sense is addictive. Presumably if every piece of bad legislation is to be abandoned courtesy of new primary legislation we can look forward to a repeal of the appallingly badly drafted TDP legislation and associated rules as well. Just have sensible new legislation and just a single Custodial scheme?

• 21 May 2010 09:21 AM

The Home Information Pack. Born 1 August 2007; died 20 May 2010 - aged 2 years 9 months
After a difficult birth – Labour took 9 years – the Home Information Pack came into being, delivered by housing minister Ruth Kelly, in August 2007. But this Frankenstein’s Policy of oddly bolted-together components, which aimed to speed up the home-buying process, was stunted by a denial of key elements, precipitating its ultimate demise.

The Home Information Pack was a glint in the Labour Party’s eye in the 1997 election manifesto, where it was seen as a solution to the problem of gazumping.

But it remained uncertain that the Home Information Pack would ever be born and it was not until November 2004, after almost two parliaments of trying, that the Housing Bill came into effect and the HIP was conceived. Even at this stage, with Labour expecting, the HIP was not due for a further three years.

Fierce opposition from campaigners, such as Kirstie Allsop, cast further doubt on whether the HIP would come into existence in 2006. The most serious blow to the HIP’s prospects came in 2006, when Labour bowed under pressure and dropped the requirement to have an essential ‘home condition report.’

Ante natal trials of the HIP began in late 2006, but failed to silence critics. Warnings about the opposition to the HIP were sounded from the House of Lords and RICS, who claimed it would be damaging to the housing market.

A last-gasp motion by the Conservatives to scrap the HIP was defeated in the Commons in May 2007, and following a summer of Labour pains, the HIP was cobbled together and forced out in August 2007.

From its early days, the HIP proved unpopular with buyers and sellers, who resented the maintenance payment to support the Pack, particularly during the economic downturn. The lack of key elements, such as a structural survey, severely stunted the HIP and its demise was confirmed with the formation of the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition in May 2010.

The HIP is survived by the Energy Performance Certificate.

• 21 May 2010 08:52 AM

Shrika is bringing out a new RECORD instead of "HIPS DONT LIE" its going to be called "LIE DOWN HIPS" !!

• 21 May 2010 08:09 AM