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ARTICLE · 15 NOVEMBER 2006

Severely Weakened HIPs

Barlow Lyde & Gilbert LLP
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The National Association of Estate Agents, 125 cross-party MPs, the Council of Mortgage Lenders, and (Location, Location, Location) presenter Kirstie Allsopp - hardly a revolutionary force, but ultimately successful in forcing the Government to u-turn into removing the Home Condition Report (HCR) from the forthcoming Home Information Pack (HIP).

United KingdomReal Estate and Construction
Simon Konsta
Simon Konsta

Home Information Packs, or HIPs, will be introduced in June next year. We examine the implications for property professionals.

The National Association of Estate Agents, 125 cross-party MPs, the Council of Mortgage Lenders, and "Location, Location, Location" presenter Kirstie Allsopp - hardly a revolutionary force, but ultimately successful in forcing the Government to u-turn into removing the Home Condition Report (HCR) from the forthcoming Home Information Pack (HIP).

On 18 June, Yvette Cooper, Minister for Housing and Planning, announced that HCRs would no longer form a compulsory element of the HIP in June 2007.

Whilst the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), the new government department charged with introducing HIPs, clings to the belief that HIPs will still engender greater transparency in a speedier property selling process, without its most controversial and essential element, the HCR, the HIP appears to have been seriously weakened.

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