The Conservatives have announced their election manifesto and one of their key property points is a proposal to scrap Home Information Packs (HIPs). Whilst the initial intention behind the HIPs was well-intentioned (ie: to speed up the sales process and to have less abortive purchases) in reality they have proved little more than a sales tax and a worthless bureaucratic burden. Far from speeding up the process they have introduced delay and a duplication of cost because most purchasers go on to replicate the searches which are a component part of the HIP! A crazy situation whereby we now have a £100m pa ‘industry’ producing no value. If it comes to pass we should all therefore rejoice at their demise.
