Shapps slams untrusted HIPs
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Grant Shapps, the housing minister, says home information packs were not trusted and pledged not to make home information compulsory again.
Shapps was responding to the Department of Communities and Local Government commissioned research by Ipsos Mori.
It shows that consumers will save an estimated £870m over 10 years.
And while over 90% of people buying a house want information about its condition, fewer than one in six trust this information when it is provided by the seller.
Home buyers were ’very concerned’ about the reliability of information they received from sellers, and over 75% claimed they would only trust information from an independent surveyor that they had appointed.
More experienced buyers preferred to use an informal inspection by a builder, plumber or electrician who they already knew rather than use a condition survey.
Shapps says the extra layers of regulation was bad for the housing market and that HIPs created needless cost and hassle and were obviously unpopular.
He adds: “What is now clear is that people buying homes didn’t rate HIPs either.
“People who buy and sell homes want to know more about their condition, but forcing them to swap bits of information they don’t want or trust is a foolish way to try and improve the property market.
“That’s why in future this information will be provided on a strictly voluntary basis. We will allow the housing sector to develop products that include the information consumers actually want, and that they can rely on when buying a home.”
The government scrapped HIPs within days of forming and claims the end of HIPs has produced a jump in the number of properties being put on the market.
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