HIPs not fit for purpose, says scornful NAEA...

25 August 2008

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Written by Rosalind Renshaw

The National Association of Estate Agents is calling on the Government to take urgent action on Home Information Packs.

Peter Bolton King, chief executive of the NAEA, said: “We have long seen HIPs as not fit for purpose and as the wrong answer to simplifying the house buying process. Quite simply, the Government tried to force square pegs into round holes and the slower property market is making this situation worse.

“For instance, local searches being part of a HIP is madness.

“Due to the length of time properties are on the market in the current climate, a majority of searches are now out of date by the time the property is sold, which means they have to be repeated at extra cost to the consumer.”

Bolton King, who also called for Energy Performance Certificates to be reviewed to see whether they were fit for purpose, added: “In times of economic hardship, let’s stop this ridiculous repeating of information and shameful waste of consumers’ money.”

Comments

- andy graves
The government needs to act in these times of hardship in the current housing crisis which is what it is a crisis, volumes of sales have gone through the floor boards, hips are a complete waste of time as certain documents in the hip such as searches are not being used as the properties are taking longer to sell and the buyers solicitors are requesting new searches to be carried out at the expense of the consumer. Also lets try and put some positive spin within the media on the property market rather than talking ourselves into a recession, some reports suggest that the property market will rise by as much as 30-40% in the next 4 years wheres the positive message in the media??, if we can tell what is going to happen in 4 years time how come we couldnt see this crisis coming 2 years ago, where do these people buy there crystal balls from???( i want some!!!!)As for Mr darling suggesting a stamp duty holiday does he want to make a decision or is he just a blagging government puppet kicking the property industry in the nuts as if things couldnt get any worse.Mr darlings comments have now sown the seed of doubt ever more in peoples minds as they think it may be cheaper to buy in a couple of months as buyers are pulling out thinking they may not have to pay the stamp duty, Does this government have a clue how to run this country???? I dont bloody think so.
- 26 August 2008 03:05 AM