Hip Hip Hooray? No Way
As if house buyers and sellers were not struggling enough, the Government introduced the Home Information Pack. This scheme is so badly thought out that the original start date had to be revised for smaller properties and the HIP introduction for larger properties was sneakily brought in in the autumn with virtually no publicity. What is a HIP? The basic ‘pack’ consists of local searches, title deeds and an energy efficiency report, so the only thing that would not already have been provided to a would-be purchaser is the energy efficiency report. This informs the purchaser if there is adequate loft insulation, double glazed windows, cavity wall insulation, an energy efficient boiler etc. in other words, nothing that purchasers could not find out by using their eyes and asking a few simple questions. The energy efficiency rating can be changed by something as simple as swapping ordinary light bulbs for energy efficient ones, making a nonsense of the whole thing. The cost of a HIP is upwards of £350 for the seller, which is likely to be added to the asking price of the property. In addition, buyers are advised to obtain their own local searches just to be ‘on the safe side.’ HIPs are a total waste of time and money, just what we have come to expect from this Labour Government.
