Following days of speculation, the Coalition government has announced that Home Information Packs are to be scrapped with immediate effect. Home sellers will no longer have to provide a home information pack (HIP), but sellers will still have to produce an official energy efficiency assessment (EPC) of their home. The move should slice around £250 off the cost of selling a home. A fully featured HIP costs in the region of £300-£400, where as their replacement, the EPC, will cost considerably less, at around £70.
The EPC has been retained largely in part due to its mandatory status under EU law. They will remain valid for ten years, unlike HIP’s which are only valid for as long as the period the property remained on the market. Nevertheless, some have pointed out that EPCs are of limited value for the majority of the UK’s older housing stock, which was constructed before energy efficiency concerns were prevalent.
First conceived in Labour’s original 1997 manifesto, HIPs were not formally introduced until August 2007. They include a range of documents including terms of sale, evidence of title deeds and the energy efficiency certificate among others. However, many in the industry see the HIP’s as needless red-tape, which has strangled the housing market. Housing minister Shapps said: ‘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.”
The news was greeted warmly by Peter Bolton King, chief executive of the National Association of Estate Agents, who said:
‘It is also good news for sellers. They no longer need to shell out hundreds of pounds for a piece of pointless regulation that benefits no one.
However, the abolition the HIP’s is a bitter blow for up to 10,000 workers directly involved in the industry. Many, of whom have spent thousands of pounds on training to qualify, but now face unemployment.
The removal of HIP’s is the first of a number of reforms to the housing market outlined by the newly elected coalition government.