Home Information Pack

The former head of the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) will launch an attack on Home Information Packs (Hips) today calling for the property sales industry to present a unified voice against them.

Trevor Kent will say Hips are “the most ill-conceived, ill-researched and ill-tested change to property sales law and practice that England and Wales has ever experienced”.

In a speech to the general council of the NAEA he will say: “The government have singularly failed to convince the industry, even those supporting packs, that any of the milestones the government themselves set in place for satisfactory roll-out of packs have been reached.

“To continue this folly will lead to property market melt-down of undreamt of proportions.”

Hips are planned to come into force on June 1st 2007, and are expected to cost sellers between £600 and £1,000.

The packs will have a set of documents providing important information about the property including searches, copies of the deeds and information regarding its energy efficiency.

However, Mr Kent cites a lack of trained home inspectors needed to issue the packs, the lack of actual market conditions being replicated during their trial (taking place from November of this year) as some of the reasons why Hips have not met important milestones.

Earlier this week the Association of Home Information Pack Providers (Ahipp) announced consumer demand for Hips during the trial had been positive and sellers requested them as they believed they would increase the speed of their sale.

“The reality is Hips are happening and we have seen clear indications that more businesses are now taking steps to prepare, with Ahipp membership continuing to grow, up a further ten per cent since the roll [out] was first announced in August,” said Paul Broadhead, deputy director general for Ahipp.