Q&A: Why did the government change their mind?
Lucia Adams, assistant property editor of The Times, explains what has changed.
The government appears to have scrapped home condition reports after 130 MPs signed a motion in eary July against the packs.
However, there were also concerns there would not have been enough inspectors to cope with demands for the home condition reports. Plans to train 7,500 inspectors are behind schedule: at the end of last month, only 232 inspectors had completed their training.
There had also been much criticism of the original scheme. Estate agents, chartered surveyors, and mortgage lenders said that the surveys would lack credibility amongst buyers, and that the cost of the packs would deter potential sellers causing a slump in the property market.
The Council of Mortgage Lenders had told ministers that many lenders would not be able to rely on the reports until 2008-9, meaning that sellers would still have to pay for a separate mortgage valuation survey in addition to the cost of a HIP.
The Council of Mortgage Lenders had told ministers that many lenders would not be able to rely on the reports until 2008-9, meaning that sellers would still have to pay for a separate mortgage valuation survey in addition to the cost of a HIP.
Comments
The whole proposal is a complete charade. The Government is not interested in easing the conveyancing process, they just need the Energy Rating certificates post Kyoto.
HIPs will not address 95% of the reasons people pull out of a deal before exchange of contracts
Posted by: John Edrich | August 19, 2006 06:14 PM
HOW COULD hips WORK - ESTATE AGENT OWNED COMPANIES CARRYING OUT hips ON PROPERTIES THEY ARE SELLING - WHY WOULD THEY SPOT ANYTHING AND LOSE THE SALE
Posted by: Peter | August 20, 2006 08:01 AM
Only the people / companies with a vested interest think hips will work -Chartered Surveyors voted with their feet and did not get trained as the general view was that it was Not good for the public
Posted by: Paul | August 21, 2006 07:22 AM
can anyone out there offer some advise,i recently enquired about training as a home inspector & the figures involved seemed to be between £6-8000, a lot of money if your,e going to sit at home afterwards with no inspections to do!!needless to say the training companys are real pushy for new recruits,would i be right in thinking the bubbles burst before its begun?
Posted by: andy parsons | August 22, 2006 07:27 PM
Is there anyone who could adivise me too, I recently expessed interest in an Ad placed by HIT, the advert was a bit unclear, I had a 15-20 minute telephone interview to be then told I was sucsesfull in having a face to face interview, I've been given no indication of how much I would expect to pay, should they not be up frontand tell you this before you have an interview to save time and trouble. They did ask a few personal questions but I'm not entirley convinced it was for viable reasons?
Posted by: cheryl stokes | October 5, 2006 11:45 AM