£4m Hips trial is just a 'gimmick'

Experts have dismissed a trial roll-out of the controversial Home Information Packs - Hips - as a 'sham'.

The packs aim to cut the number of house sales that fall through and speed up the process. Sellers pay up to £500 for documents with key information about a property. These are made available to potential buyers.

From next June, anyone selling a home will have to pay for a pack before they can market their property. But in July this year, the Government said that it would no longer be mandatory for sellers to pay for a home condition report - a key element of Hips. This would have given a structural assessment of a property.

Last week, a trial of Hips began in Bath, Newcastle upon Tyne, Cambridge, Southampton, Huddersfield and Northampton. Sellers here will be able to volunteer to take part and will not have to pay for packs. Instead, the trial will be funded by the Government and is expected to cost about £4m.

But Nick Salmon, of anti-Hips campaign group Splinta, says: 'The trial is a farce, a sham, nothing more than a gimmick. The fact that packs are free for triallists means it is like offering someone a free holiday in Barbados - of course they will say yes.'

Peter Bolton, chief executive of the National Association of Estate Agents, says: 'Given trials are being conducted by the Association of Home Information Pack Providers, how can they be truly independent?'

Helen Loveless, Mail on Sunday
14 November 2006