Property expert fears Hips "chaos"
Britain's housing market could descend into "chaos" when home information packs (Hips) are introduced on June 1st, a property expert has said.Mark Readings, of online estate agent House Network, makes his prediction following the publication of a survey that shows 87 per cent of Britons are completely unaware of the forthcoming implementation.From June 1st all sellers of homes in the UK will have to provide potential buyers with a Hip, which backers claim will collectively save homebuyers millions of pounds.The initiative is the fruit of the government's decade-long efforts to improve the homebuying process, which it believes is overly time-consuming and inefficient.But the preparation process has been plagued by difficulties, most noticeably the abandonment of a key part of Hips â€" the home condition report â€" last year. This appears to have confused the British public. Estimates of the cost of a Hip, slated at £350, varied wildly from under £200 to over £600 while just 45 per cent believed the scheme would improve the homebuying process."We predict that unless the chancellor acts now, home sellers will be in chaos come June 1st," Mr Readings said."The government needs to either spend more money to make home sellers aware, or scrap the scheme altogether."
Share this..
Related stories
Bank Of England sitting on £287 billion of toxic assets
Last year the Bank of England introduced a special liquidity scheme which was designed to allow banks to exchange assets for liquidity in a move to unlock the credit markets. The scheme finished in January this year and it has been revealed that in total £185 billion was forwarded to the 32 banks in the scheme in exchange for assets with a face value of £287 billion. However, since January the v...
Read MoreSir Fred Goodwin blamed for Royal Bank of Scotland woes
While just two years ago Sir Fred Goodwin was renowned as the sharpest mind in the UK banking sector he today stands accused of losing Royal Bank of Scotland £28 billion over the last two years. Despite being a regular visitor to Gordon Brown at 11 Downing Street it would appear that the whole banking community and political scene have turned against Sir Fred.
Over the last few yea...
Long-term investment strategies : Property
While there are signs of a potential recovery in the UK property market nothing is definite at this moment in time with the recession balanced on a knife edge. However, while historically property has been one of the main investment vehicles for many people around the world there had been a suggestion this could change in the foreseeable future. So will we see property taken over as the number-one...
Read MoreLDV vans on the brink of administration
It has been revealed this evening that the future of LDV vans is literally hanging by a thread after a much vaunted management buyout apparently collapsed last night. The company has repeatedly asked the UK government for up to £5 million in bridging loans and has repeatedly been refused access to further funding despite the fact it employs a significant number of people in the UK. So what next?<...
Read MoreFirst home 'more important than uni'
Young adults in Britain are reportedly putting off university in order to get a foothold on the property ladder.A survey reveals one in ten potential university students said they have sacrificed their studies in order to put money away to fund their first home.Lloyds TSB, which conducted today's research, says a further third want higher education tuition fees cut to help them become a homeowner....
Read More