Comments on: Conservative Home Information Pack policy to stall property market?

By: Grant Shapps to change Energy Performance Certificates delivery?

Grant Shapps to change Energy Performance Certificates delivery? — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 11:01:22 +0000

[...] have one) and how they plan to manage the associated problems we highlighted in recent article Conservative Home Information Pack policy to stall property market? and the response Grant Shapps gave us – Conservatives to consult on Home Information Packs [...]

By: HIP-Consultant.co.uk

HIP-Consultant.co.uk — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 12:29:37 +0000

We did get a response

http://www.hip-consultant.co.uk/blog/conservatives-to-consult-on-home-information-packs-hips-123/
though can not say it was as indepth as we had hoped and believed it maybe.

By: HIP-Consultant.co.uk

HIP-Consultant.co.uk — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 14:35:03 +0000

Hi Darcy,

Thank you for your feedback, it is most interesting.

We have been contacted by Mr Shapps’s office regarding this article. They have offered to answer our questions and a few more we have additionally requested answers for.

I hope to have the responses early next week and publish the information soon afterwards. Hopefully the answers will be a little more extensive than what you have received. We have asked for plain english answers which yours certainly are.

Mr Shapps’s office has been helpful since they made contact on this matter so hopeful we may receive a degree of detail in the responses being returned. We will see.

By: Darcy Pace

Darcy Pace — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 14:16:01 +0000

I have Emailed Grants Snapps and had a responses from His office Pasted below

I shall be Voting GREEN !

Thank you for your email to Grant Shapps MP. Grant read your email with interest and has asked me to respond on this behalf.

Q1. Are you going to replace Home Information Packs with anything else?

Q2. If so, what?

n/a

Q3. What are the planned timescales to the answer in Q2?

Around 100 days.

Q4. How will you manage the scrapping process, timescales and actions?

We’ll pass a Statutory Instrument. The process is expected to take about 100 days.

Thank you once again for taking the time to write to Grant. Please do not hesitate to contact him again about this or any other issue.

Yours sincerely,

Rhys Ravenscroft.

Parliamentary Researcher for Grant Shapps MP

By: Horizon

Horizon — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 23:36:01 +0000

There is absolutely no doubt that stating he will drop the HIP will see a huge drop in houses going on the market prior to the election.

People will just wait and any improvements that we are currently seeing as the property market is slowly improving will be set right back. The economy will suffer as a result and the recession will deepen.

The unfortunate issue beyond the misery this short sighted approach will bring is that the current government have seemed to have lost all willingness to address this issue and are leaving Schapps to march around potentially damaging the recovery in the housing market completely unchecked.

By: Kate

Kate — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 16:11:12 +0000

As a potential buyer I think HIPS are GREAT. You get to see if there are any charges / restrictions on the property. You get to see what the current owners have or have not done, potential for flooding etc all before you make an offer. I know it costs the seller and that currently with the market the way it is many potential sellers are not “having a go” at selling because of the cost of the HIP, but from a buyers perspective HIPS ARE GREAT……and it will be a sad day if the Conservatives scrap them. It then costs the buyer for a solicitor to go through Title Deeds etc after an offer has been made.

By: DavePage

DavePage — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 15:15:04 +0000

HIP ‘consultant’? Ha, ha, parasites — see the writing on the wall, eh?

Can you say ‘vested interest’, property men? Time to get real, contributory jobs and get off the debt teat…

By: HIP-Consultant.co.uk

HIP-Consultant.co.uk — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 11:38:46 +0000

Yes we have read this article just now, though at present can only find this reference to it Grant Shapps's coments here. Would be nice to believe that he had made this statement in response to our questions, though i do not suppose it is very likely. Good to see he is at least starting think about how his sound bites may affect everybody. We will update as and when we hear more about this announcement/speech.

By: Claire M

Claire M — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 10:33:24 +0000

It appears Mr Shapps must have read your blog and has answered your q4 !!!

He apparently announced (see estate agent today)that he will scrap HIPS in 100 days.

I completely agree he is not thinking about the consequences of these announcements and the effect it will have on the market.

By: David

David — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 07:52:01 +0000

Altho it appears that EPCs will continue, Grant Shapps has yet to clarify if these will be watered down, who will carry these out, how they will connect in practice with the “£6500″ green deal (per household), and whether the big utilities will take over the provision of EPCs thereby sidelining DEAs working independently.
DEAs continue to watch the horizon.