Government hails success of HIPs in difficult times

Published on Friday 28 November 2008 21:16

HOME Information Packs, which were made compulsory south of the Border last August, are partly to blame for the slowdown in the property market, according to campaigners who would like to see them scrapped.

But the newly appointed housing minister, Margaret Beckett, has said the HIP system is here to stay.

She told MPs: "Given all the abuse that HIPs suffered, I think they've been relatively successful. But that doesn't mean that they're fulfilling their potential.

"I think that given their limitations they have some degree of beneficial impact but I fully accept that they're not, perhaps, the perfect vehicle we might wish for. I accept they're not working to the potential they could."

The campaign against the introduction of HIPs was led in England by the Location, Location, Location presenter, Kirstie Allsopp, who worked in conjunction with the Conservative Party – which is still campaigning for HIPs to be scrapped.

Allsopp said: "We need to alter the way in which we buy and sell houses in this country. There is no doubt about that. But the HIP is not the way to do it.

"It's going to slow things down; it's going to make things more expensive; it's not going to deal with the issue of gazumping or gazundering; it's not going to help first-time buyers."

The Conservative housing spokesman, Grant Shapps, said his party was determined to scrap compulsory HIP reports.

"Home Information Packs have served to undermine the housing market, increase the cost of buying and selling a home," he said.