21 May 2010 - Home Information Packs 'suspended'.

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles and Housing Minister Grant Shapps have announced that, with immediate effect, Home Information Packs (HIPs) are suspended.

 

13 March 2009 - Improved Home Information Packs.

(a) Sellers will have to make a Home Information Pack (HIP) available as soon as their home goes on the market, as one of a number of improvements to HIPs that will be introduced by the Department for Communities from 6 April in England and Wales by the Home Information Pack (Amendment) (No 3) Regulations 2008.

(b) A Property Information Questionnaire (PIQ) will include flood risk information, gas and electricity safety, service charges, structural damage and parking arrangements.

(c) In order to ensure buyers and sellers get a good service from the professionals working in the industry, the Office of Fair Trading is conducting a study of how home buying and selling works, competition between service providers and how consumer interests are served. The Department for Communities is also working with the industry to explore new ways of making sure consumers have appropriate information.

1 October 2008 - marked the final roll-out of Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) to all building sectors with the introduction of EPCs to rented homes and the extension of EPCs to include all commercial buildings when bought, sold or rented. From 1 October large public buildings are required to display a Display Energy Certificate showing the building's energy efficiency rating.

21 May 2008 - Home Condition Report - a revival?

Housing Minister, Caroline Flint said 21 May during an interview on BBC Radio 5Live that she was looking to improve the existing HIP package. One measure of significance was that she said that she was currently talking to industry leaders around the idea of including the Home Condition Report, presumably as a compulsory inclusion within the HIP. The Minister acknowledged that there was a need to make HIPs more user friendly.

Tory shadow housing minister, is reported in the FT Adviser as saying “I have renewed the call for HIPs to be scrapped, particularly in the light of the current market turmoil, which means that HIPs and excessive stamp duty for first-time buyers are making it more cumbersome and more expensive than ever to buy and sell a house. He did, however, admit that “if we could speed up the time it takes to buy and sell a home, so rather than taking months it takes weeks between the time people agree a sale and exchange takes place, then we would save something like £339m a year”.