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The Government’s implementation of Home Information Packs is due to come on board on 1st June but many of the profession’s stakeholders, including the National Association of Estate Agents, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, The Law Society and The Building Societies Institute are all still in grave doubt that the Government’s idea of speeding up the property market by way of improving the sale and purchase of a property is the right way forward.

Clearly, the Home Information Pack has had several twists and turns since its announcement to be implemented on 1st June and even now at the eleventh hour there is still a chance that the Home Information Pack could be pulled from its implementation day. Certainly, most of the profession of estate agents and solicitors agree that there is room for improvement of fast-tracking the sale and purchase of property but the implementation of a Home Information Pack is unlikely to see any great improvement in the time span.

The Home Information Pack (or HIP as it is now known) has to be in place before a property can be placed on the open market and, therefore, this is going to slow down the initial impetus of a property coming to the market and is also going to put the vendor to an expense of providing the Home Information Pack, as a Pack provider, solicitor or agent is going to have considerable expense to put the Pack in place prior to the property being placed on the open market.

The vendor is, therefore, going to have additional expense, in addition to the normal estate agency commissions and conveyancing charges, to consider when budgeting for selling their freehold or leasehold property.

The main stakeholders in the property industry have continually contacted the Government to recommend a better way forward but the Government to date have not listened to the suggestions put forward by leading bodies like the National Association of Estate Agents and The Law Society and now the Government seem keen to commence the implementation on 1st June. With the days ticking away to the implementation of HIPs there does seem an apparent lack of Energy Certificate Inspectors in place and this could cause national delays should the Pack proceed as expected on 1st June. Several would-be property inspectors have not registered at this date due to the cost involved in training to be an Energy Performance Inspector and, therefore, clearly if the implementation does come on board as expected on the 1st this could cause chaos in the property industry.

The cost to train as an Energy Performance Certificate Inspector is estimated at between £3,000 and £4,000 and this has been perhaps a deterrent when there is still the likelihood that the matter could be pulled.

It is certainly going to be an interesting time now as meetings are envisaged with the House of Lords, House of Commons and Government on Wednesday 16th May and again on Thursday 24th May before the “thumbs up” is given for the implementation on 1st June. Clearly, there could be a chaotic start at 1st June should HIPs become law as they are planned at this present time by the Government.

Certainly, most estate agents are experiencing an influx of property coming onto the market prior to 1st June as, naturally, any property placed on the market prior to 1st June does not require a Home Information Pack. The property can then remain on the market until 1st January 2008 when, if it is not sold, the Home Information Pack will be required to be put in place on that particular property.

This is the biggest single change to ever hit the property market and it could have a damaging effect on the future of property sales and the amount of property placed onto the open market. It is a question of “watch this space.”

Andrew Morris
ANDREW MORRIS & CO
ESTATE AGENT & AUCTIONEER
BRIDGE STREET
HEREFORD