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HIPs a 'total waste of time'

Home Information Packs (HIPs) are a total waste of time according to Spicerhaart, the UK's leading independent estate agent...

For all three or four bed properties, where HIPs are now mandatory and where offers have been accepted, only 10% of buyers bothered to read the pack before making their offer.

The partial introduction of HIPs for three and four bedroom homes has only added confusion at a time of unusual market conditions and is skewing the percentage and pattern of properties coming on to the market.

Paul Smith, chief executive of Spicerhaart comments: “HIPs are an absolute waste of time, viewed overwhelmingly as an irrelevance and an unnecessary cost. Our figures show a complete rejection by buyers. Preferably the Government should scrap HIPs immediately and the whole debacle should be written off as a mistake. This should help restore consumer confidence.

“If the Government is hell-bent in pursuing HIPs, it must make a decision now to extend the roll out to all properties to stop the imbalance in the market and remove confusion. The worst possible scenario is to allow the market to carry on as it is with a half implemented initiative which is proving to be of no use to the house buying and selling process.”