Hips come under attack again

Permalink: Hips come under attack again
by Kay Murchie

Spicerhaart, Europe’s largest independent estate agent, has accused Home Information Packs (Hips) of being ‘a complete waste of time’ which has resulted in The Association of Home Information Pack Providers (AHIPP) defending the packs once again.

Spicerhaart said Hips were studied by just 10% of homebuyers but this is untrue according to AHIPP.

Paul Broadhead, deputy director general of AHIPP, said that it is still too early to make any assumptions about the way people use Hips as they were only introduced on 1 August.

Mr Broadhead added that administrative processes are, to some extent, responsible. He continued that people are not reading Hips out of choice, they are simply not being advised that a Hip is available in a large number of cases.

Buyers are having to request a Hip from their estate agent but they should be provided with a Hip automatically, consequently, this figure is not a surprise.

Mr Broadhead said that an updated version of the Hip handling guide has just been issued which states that once estate agents receive the Hip it should be made available to buyers immediately.

AHIPP concluded by saying that Hips should be rolled out to include all properties and this needs to be actioned by the government so consumers are not confused as to whether a property should have a Hip or not.