A fighting group has been formed to try and save the Home Information Pack industry.
The HIP Reform Group, which is also launching a fighting fund in a bid to raise £30,000 to fund any possible legal action, has mobilised in the wake of the Conservatives’ promises to ditch HIPs.
In a statement yesterday, the group said that shadow housing minister Grant Shapps’ repeated pledges to abolish HIPs have “planted a time bomb that could ignite early in the New Year, bringing with it misery for estate agents, other property professionals and the home seller and buyer”.
It goes on: “If the Conservative Party should gain power at the next general election, Mr Shapps has made it increasingly clear that his first task will be to scrap the current HIP. With the HIP’s future uncertain and Mr Shapps refusing to commit to what will replace it, many vendors will at the beginning of next year face a dilemma as to whether to sell or wait until after the election before going to market.
“It does not take an economist to predict what the likely effect this will have on what is already a very fragile market.”
The group said this will make it almost impossible for estate agents to plan their businesses for the first half of next year.
It continued: “Added to this is the personal tragedy this will bring to the 30,000-plus working within the HIP industry. At a time when unemployment is high, the overnight closure of a major industry must be a concern for any government.”
The statement notes: “These are people who have invested personally and financially in finding a role within an industry that the Government itself encouraged.”
The aim of this group is to ensure the consumer is given a full and not a partial picture of the benefits of the HIP, as well as advocating reform of the home selling and buying process.
https://www.hipreformgroup.com/register.aspx
Fighting group launches to salvage HIPs industry
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Comments
Snore - No surprises they've got 371 supporters. About 370 are DEA/HI's and 1 is an estate agent. They've also put up a response to the Splinta 'lobyists' (sic)and from what they say HRG prove they know b***er all about the workings of estate agents, the market and the negative effects of HIPs. Nothing more than a self-interested, self-preservation group that will hopefully become irrelevant after about May of 2010.
I'll join, I'll join!
Oh, sorry - I thought it said SAVAGE hips!
Bother!
Ric - you say the Hip reform Group only has 167 members. Not bad for a group that had only been created 24 hours previously. After 48 hours, it is now on 371 members and counting. Furthermore, who else would become a member of a newly-launched group apart from people who it affects? Come on Ric - at least make your comments worth reading.
After all the arguing back and forth at the end of the day Conservatives will win and they will scrap HIP's whether we like it or not. In reality this will mean that lot's of people will be out of a job whether it be 30,000 or not. For those people in reality it means not being able to pay bills or the mortgage because lets face it even if we got out there now to look for alternative employment there's not much out there to pick from. Just because you don't like HIP's doesn't mean you need to take it on the people just doing their job's!
Thanks Dave but no thanks as our name suggests we don't just produce hips. We provide EPCs, Commercial EPCs, DECs, air pressure testing and a search brokering service. Be careful though there are lots of big words there!
"I suggest the critics of this Group should take a good close look at themselves and ask what they would do if they were faced with a threat to their livelihoods." Excuse me, but through the last 18 months we have faced a threat to our livelihoods and indeed our business EVERY day. You know what we did? We adapted. We got our heads down and worked very hard to keep going. The Global recession has caused hardship for many and no exceptions were made for us. In fact, one the Banks we taxpayers own, withdrew of facility without notice as they felt the industry in which we worked was ' precarious'. And whose bloody fault was it that ended up as such? The same people who now demand bonuses. I regret that anyone will suffer as a result of the abolition of HIP's. BUT at least you have notice and time to seek alternative income streams whilst continuing with the current business. How many small business had that luxury.
I admire anyone who is prepared to stand up and be counted. There is too much self righteousness around. If there is a group of individuals who wish to get together and be heard on issues that they believe in why should they be ridiculed? Good luck to them as least they are doing something positive. The problem we have in this Country is that we have no respect for people who wish to speak up and who try and make a difference. I suggest the critics of this Group should take a good close look at themselves and ask what they would do if they were faced with a threat to their livelihoods. Perhaps these people would be better off focusing their spare time on doing some worthwhile charity work!
Box Property Solutions: The Only BOX you will need is the one you have to pack when HIPs are scrapped.
Box Property 'Solutions':
Please....give up. You have lost!
Hmmm... Mr Chadwick - "Estate Agents will miss the revenue stream. It was a good earner and helped cash flow." Get real, Sir. Ask 100 Agents whether they would lose this supposed 'perk' in favour of all the additional properties hitting the market, of which around 30-50% will convert to sales (and add-on business opportunities...). Box Property Solutions - "...and keep the market moving..." Funny - the market didn't need HIPs to keep it moving for the last several hundred years...
Support Hips? Scrap Hips? The third option, must be repair, alter, amend, and/or rename Hips. Reduce the pack price, get conveyancers instructed earlier, add useful information, plannning, building regs, guarantees, etc. Bring back first day marketing. Support or join the Bold Group, www.theboldgroup.co.uk.
"Join now and keep making the £50- £150 mark up and keep the property market moving" differs hugely from "if our clients decide to mark up our products it is their choice"
You are actively encouraging it to procure business, yet distance yourself when challenged. Odd that.
We believe in clear pricing and if our clients decide to mark up our products it is their choice. We provide HIPs but also having worked as an estate agent for ten years we can also see the benefits of the product to the end consumer and the fact that if used correctly (and actually offered and read), can help buyers more aware of their future purchase and sales stick together better. Surely this is the aim of the estate agent?
It is not the pack that is wrong it is the way it has been rolled out, the education behind it and the lack of support and slow providers.
Box - just had a peak at the Hip reform Group - is that it? 167 members - 166 of which are either HIPs Providers, DEA's, HI's or dont say. The other is a solcitor. Not ONE agent - says it all really. Its not a reform group - its a self help group
Box - Connells claimed that conveyancing improved by as much as a week but failed to take into account the affect of the delay before marketing! In the pre HIP days, we used to phone from outside the property and get the negs to start calling out new instructions immediately. PLUS - adding commission to a HIP is unprofessional.
Box - are you serious? I would never allow a client to order a HIP and mark up the price. Its wrong. Do your agents declare this commission as required by law? I suppose you also think its right to take a fee from contractors which gets passed on to the clients as well? Fees should be inclusive and transparent. Its companies who encourage this that have undermined vendors confidence in what they see as money for old rope. Still, you have a vested interest and use this site to unashamedly advertise!! Good luck in your new career.
Join now and keep making the £50- £150 mark up and keep the property market moving:
hipreformgroup.com
Finally, a forward thinking group that realise HIPs are good, don't delay the instruction and have a positive impact on the market. Lets not forget the time that agents will have 100 days of outgoings and no new instructions let alone the countless jobs for something that even Connells have confirmed works. It is only unprofessional 'old man' agencies that are stuck in the middle ages that can't see the benefit. That and those with a bad HIP provider!
Really - £30k in legal fees wont get them very far. They would be better off saving the money rather than fight the inevitable. Fact is - Nick Salmon and Splinta have been proved correct. I understand that there is row going on between the Housing Minister and DCLG over whether to just get rid of HIPs now and steal Shapps thunder.
Why not tempt new vendors by offering free hips, or at least offer to refund the cost of the HIP from your sales fee. Charge a sensible percentage with a discount perhaps?? Anyone serious about selling will not see two or three hundred pounds up front as such a big hurdle. This is just scaremonggering - the agents and the public alike do not want HIPS, and will always find a way of moving despite the intervention of governement or the banks.
Who are they? - "a spokesman said" - anyone prepared to raise head above parapet?
Unsustainable vested interests again! 30,000 jobs - what nonsense.
Why should Grant Shapps replace useless HIP's with anything?
Just make it compulsory for conveyancers to start the job at the commencement of marketing and complete the basics within 14 days. Saves time and cash all round.
As for agents income stream. Do your job as specialists, concentrate on valuing, promoting and selling property.
Personally I'm not bothered about HIPs. Too much bad publicity from all quarters have killed it - but Estate Agents will miss the revenue stream. It was a good earner and helped cash flow. Maybe in future EA could put pressure onto buyers instructing a residential survey - that'd help me out!
DEA's are not affected as the EPC will not be abolished. Training bodies are not required in any numbers anyway as there more than enough DEA's in existence. So how many does that leave in the 'HIP Industry'? Nothing like 30,000. If HIP Reform want credibility they could start by being more accurate in their use of scare-mongering statistics.
Sad, but thats how it is I'm afraid. EPC's will remain, but you cant simply keep a flawed policy because you want to preserve jobs. This credit crunch has cost many, many jobs. You continue a war simply to keep soldiers busy.
13000 + DEA's
800 Home Inspectors
plus accreditation/certification scheme staff/training providers and other suppliers...
For those holding the opposite viewpoint:
splintacampaign.co.uk
30,000+ people working in the HIP industry. Prove it!