The shadow housing minister is thought to be planning to scrap HIP’s home information packs as soon as possible after coming to power. Many estate agents, property traders and developers see the removal of the HIP’s as an integral part of a housing market recovery.
The EPC or energy performance certificate is thought to be safe and has proved more popular with home buyers and home sellers. The energy certificate does make sellers give more thought to their properties green credentials. For over ten years since the HIP home information pack first became a proposal of the Labor manifesto it has been surrounded by controversy. The first signs of the HIP’s replacement are just starting to gather credibility. It looks like the “exchange ready packs” of ERP’s will be the replacement for the HIP’s, this pack is aimed purely at speeding up completion after exchange. These pack would reduce the average exchange time period by well over half, they will include local authority searches, drainage water searches, a property information questionnaire completed by the seller and answers to standard questions from the buyer’s solicitor. The biggest advantage of these changes is that these packs will not need to be provided for the first 30days of marketing which will be a vast improvement from the HIP’s which are required for day one.
The other good news for the housing market is that a conservative government has pledged to scrap stamp duty on properties that sell below £250.00.