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26th September 2007 - Town halls have been ordered to hit house sellers with £200 fines if they fail to use Home Information Packs.

It means local councils could now rake in fortunes from home owners who disregard the rules. The fines have been given the go-ahead by Housing Minister Yvette Cooper, empowering trading standards officers to impose the cash penalties.They can hit anyone who markets a home with three or four bedrooms without a Home Information Pack.

Last night there was widespread condemnation of the move which is seen as providing a potential cash bonanza for local councils. If only one in five of the two million homes sold each year fall foul of the rules, town halls would make £80million.

Grant Shapps, Shadow Housing Minister, said HIPs evasion would be deemed an extra source of revenue like parking fines and speed camera penalties.

He said: "It is the height of recklessness for Labour to impose even higher costs on home owners by forcing HIPs onto them, then pressuring councils into levying £200 fines.
"This flawed scheme was always about giving the Government more money.
"All the VAT on the packs goes to the Treasury and if councils are raising millions from fines, the Government will soon find a way to cut their central grant.
"Are trading standards officers going to start knocking on doors if there's a For Sale board outside?"
"Ministers are playing Russian roulette with the housing market by making such a reckless intervention."
Bernard Clarke, of the Council of Mortgage Lenders, said: "This move places an extra burden on home owners.
"We are hoping that councils will be consistent. It will not be fair if sellers in one area are treated differently from those in another."
The £700 HIPs have been controversial from the start.
They were supposed to make it easier to buy and sell a home because the seller prepares much of the information for the buyer.

Ministers hoped that by having surveys and searches prepared in advance, the number of failed purchases would drop and sales could be completed more quickly.

But it has been criticised by the property industry and ministers have been forced into embarrassing climbdowns. A local government spokesman said last night: "People are complying with HIPs' rules - high compliance means a low level of fines."
Trading Standards Institute chief executive Ron Gainsford said: "Our business is about compliance not prosecution. Our officers will operate with a light touch."

(www.express.co.uk)

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