There are no surveyors to prepare the Energy Performance Certificates, there are no buyers who will be interested in reading their reports, and their solicitors will not wish to rely on old searches provided in the Pack.  “Frankly the HIP is, and always has been a complete farce - a total waste of money and likely to cause house-price inflation” says Trevor Kent, former president of the National Association of Estate Agents.

"Every profession involved in house sales has called on the Government to abandon HIPs, yet they plough on regardless.  This is breathtaking arrogance, a true 'we known your business better that you do attitude' and, after today's announcement, a case of  'we'll put your money where our mouth is to prove it', as well." says Kent.

“This HIP business”, concludes Trevor Kent, “just has to be stopped and my guess is that the penny will only drop when the Government discovers that the public will not allow themselves to be part of this dry-run -  EVEN WHEN THEIR HIPS ARE PROVIDED FREE'.  

End

Trevor Kent is former president of the National Association of Estate Agents and has been a fervent anti-HIP campaigner through the reigns of five Housing Ministers. He is still an independent single office estate agent and regularly broadcasts on property .    

Boost for consumer protection in door-to-door sales

The OFT today welcomed the Government's announcement that it will legislate to provide cooling-off periods on goods and services sold to people in their homes, even when the sales representatives have been invited to visit.

As the law stands consumers have the right to cancel within a seven day period when a sales visit is unsolicited, but an OFT study found that 94 per cent of consumers were unaware of these cancellation rights. Under the new proposals consumers will also have the same protection when buying goods from representatives irrespective of whether they have been formally invited into their home.

These changes will complement the forthcoming 'Unfair Commercial Practices' legislation which will take positive action on aggressive sales techniques used by representatives. This includes pressurizing consumers into buying a product or service, by outstaying their welcome in consumers' homes, or falsely claiming they will get a better deal if they sign up immediately to prevent them from buying elsewhere.  Jonathan May, Director at the OFT said:

'Extending protection in this way means that consumers shopping from home can be confident that they are protected from unscrupulous doorstep sellers.' More information and advice on doorstep selling can be found by downloading the

 OFT leaflet at www.oft.gov.uk

NOTES

1. A statistical summary of the responses to the Doorstep selling consultation has been published. For a statistical summary of responses to the doorstep selling consultation can be found on the DTI website - www.dti.gov.uk MEDIA enquiries: 020 7211+ Corinne Gladstone 8899 Terence Gibbons 8900 Lara Gorman 8133 Nick Spears 8901 Jonathan Marciano 8898 

Out of hours: mobile: 07774 134814 fax messages: 020 7211 8961

Copies of press notices: Ext. 8993

http://www.oft.gov.uk

PUBLIC enquiries: 0845 7224499 enquiries@oft.gov.uk

OFT reports and consumer information leaflets are available free from:

 --------------------------------------------------------------------

NDSREF: 137846

 Issued by : OFT Press Office

Contact : mark.kram@oft.gsi.gov.uk

HIPs SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO SINK WITHOUT TRACE

It's a misapprehension to believe HOME INFORMATION PACKS are no more since the government announced that the 'survey'  element would no longer be a constituent part. HIPS are, at the moment, still to be introduced for home sellers from June 1 2007 in their reduced form.

Another broadside has, however, been unleashed on HIPs today which will hole the already creaking hulk below the waterline, and it's come from friendly fire.

Estate agents and Home Information Pack Providers are still  bound by law to take an average of £500 off every intending house seller 14 days in advance of marketing in order to prepare the 'reduced HIP'. Many will sign up the sellers on their first visit to the home for sale when 'measuring up and advising on price'. If the sellers cannot pay cash for their HIP, a finance agreement will be offered.

The DTI has today announced that it is to legislate that all occupiers will soon be entitled to a  'cooling -off period' of 7 days during which time they will have the right to cancel any goods and services sold to them in their homes by invitation. The OFT confirmed today this will include those sales people selling mandatory  HIPs. Thus 'Home Inspectors' will now have to wait another seven days, for a possible cancellation, before beginning to prepare the Pack.

The result is that, thanks to one department of government not knowing what another is up to, even more potential chaos now reigns for home sellers and those who advise them. Trevor Kent, former president of the National Association of Estate Agents and a critic of HIPs since 1997 when they were first proposed, is exasperated by this latest news, "can anyone seriously suggest that Home Information Pack Legislation can be allowed to continue, when a home seller will now have to wait three weeks before being allowed to market their home, and become law-breakers with a £200 per day fine if they jump the gun and nail a For Sale sign up before their Pack is ready?".  Trevor added  "Maybe the DTI and the OFT already know 'reduced HIPs'  are still a nonsense and, perhaps,  they are trying to tell Mesdames Ruth Kelly and Yvette Cooper at the DCLG so. I only hope they're listening. They must grasp the nettle and consign  HIPs to the deep without further delay, before they themselves sink into oblivion as a direct result of this blind folly ".

End

Trevor Kent is a former President of the National Association of Estate Agents.  He has laboured tirelessly and without remuneration or vested interest (other than being an estate agent) to warn the public of the perils of Home Information Pack  implementation.

(o) 01753 885522
trevor@homeinformationpacks.com 

18th July 2006

THE BEGINNING OF THE END ??

MINISTERIAL STATEMENT BELOW

DEPARTMENT FOR COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

 Home Information Packs implementation.

The Minister for Housing and Planning (Yvette Cooper):   I am today setting out further details of the Government’s implementation strategy and dry run for Home Information Packs (HIPs).

 The aims of the HIPs programme

 The aims of the government’s reforms to the home buying and selling process are three fold:

 (i)         to provide home owners with important energy efficiency information about their homes to help them cut fuel bills and carbon emissions.  This is vital as homes account for 27% of Britain’s carbon emissions.  Energy Performance Certificates will provide clear information about the energy efficiency of homes and how that can be improved.  The Energy Saving Trust estimate that following the advice in Energy Performance Certificates could save the average home owner up to £300 a year on their fuel bills The government believes it is important to implement these as early as possible given the importance of reducing carbon emissions.

 (ii)        to benefit consumers by cutting waste and duplication, speeding up home sales and reducing the number of failed transactions, which at present cost consumers around £350m a year in wasted costs.

(iii)       to encourage and support long term transformation of the home buying and selling industry by introducing greater transparency and competition to drive down costs and incentivise better service and clearer redress for consumers. 

Testing

There are three main components to Home Information Packs: searches and other legal documents; Energy Performance Certificates; and the home condition surveys that make up the other component of a full Home Condition Report.  It is essential that all aspects of Home Information Packs are properly tested before full implementation.  We need to be sure that consumers understand, value and can utilise the information that HIPs provide; that the assumed benefits will be realised; and that the different operating systems underpinning HIPs will work effectively.

As part of our ongoing programme of implementation, we have already successfully tested over 14,000 HIPs with searches, but largely without Home Condition Reports, in the dry run so far.  Over the course of the summer we propose to undertake further consumer research on Home Condition Reports; to study in greater detail the 250 HIPs that have been produced to date with some kind of survey; and to look to see what more we can learn from experience in other countries where HIPs have been introduced successfully or are currently being proposed.  From the autumn the emphasis of our implementation programme will switch to the testing of Energy Performance Certificates and Home Condition Reports.  Working with the industry and with consumers, we are proposing to support a series of area based trials and we will test proposals such as allowing sellers to start marketing their homes if they have already commissioned their HIP rather than having to wait up to 14 days. There will be independent assessment and monitoring of all aspects of the dry run.

Roll out

It is also important that reforms are introduced on a timetable and as part of a programme that maximises the benefits for consumers and the environment.

As part of the development of the dry run we have engaged in detailed consultation with a wide range of stakeholders and have gathered substantial information on the progress of implementation so far. As a result, we have concluded that there would be significant risks and potential disadvantages to consumers from a mandatory “big bang” introduction of full Home Condition Reports on 1 June 2007. In particular:   

·          Further testing is needed to ensure that Home Condition Reports deliver the assumed benefits for consumers and that the operating systems that support them work smoothly.  Design work on the dry run has made it clear that this cannot be completed in time for the results to be taken into account in by 1 June. 

·          A recent report from the Council of Mortgage Lenders identified the real possibility that some lenders might not be fully geared up to use HCRs until 2008-09.  In particular the industry’s plans for bringing in Automated Valuation Models means that many lenders will not have them in place by June 2007 and so will continue to seek separate mortgage valuation surveys where they could have relied on a Home Condition Report. 

·          There are concerns about the number of inspectors that will be in place in time for June next year. 

Moreover, because of our commitment to addressing climate change we do not want to jeopardise the successful introduction of Energy Performance Certificates at the earliest possible opportunity by pursuing the ‘big bang’ mandatory introduction of full Home Condition Reports at the same time. 

We believe that progressive market-led take-up of full HCRs could strongly benefit consumers.  Bearing in mind our commitment to the early introduction of Energy Performance Certificates, combining an Energy Performance Certificate and a full Home Condition Report at the same time is likely to offer significant additional benefits to buyers and sellers.  In particular, sellers offering full Home Condition Reports should be more likely to benefit from swifter sales and suffer fewer transaction failures, as accepted offers are much less likely to be re-opened as a result of new information coming to light. In addition, once Automated Valuation Models are in place, Home Condition Reports should mean buyers get cheaper and swifter valuations and mortgage offers. We therefore believe that there will be a significant incentive for consumers to top up their HIPs voluntarily to include full Home Condition Reports and that this is a product that the market can and should deliver. 

Therefore we have concluded that: 

·          HIPs will be introduced with searches and other key documents from 1 June 2007.

·          Energy Performance Certificates will be included in HIPs on a mandatory basis from 1 June 2007. 

·          We will work with the industry to facilitate market-led take-up of full HCRs. As part of this approach, we will explore with the sector a wide range of options to enable a successful and innovative market for HCRs, including options for supporting the provision of necessary systems, effective demonstration projects for HCRs, and will consider the case for pump-priming funding.    This market-led approach has the added benefit of giving industry more flexibility to innovate and adapt to consumer preferences.  

·          This means that the remaining aspects of Home Condition Reports will not be made mandatory from June next year, but HCRs will be authorised documents that sellers will be able to include in their packs 

·          Mandatory HCRs will remain on the table if the industry fails to make a success of the roll out of HCRs 

As part of the next phase of reform of we will also be setting out our plans for an ombudsman scheme for estate agents to strengthen consumer protection as well as further proposals to review competition and transparency in the industry to the benefit of consumers 

We believe that these arrangements will ensure that Home Information Packs are implemented in a way that maximises benefits for consumers and the environment and successfully enables the long term transformation of the home buying and selling market. 

14th July 2006

The Conservative Party has formally announced their intention to scrap Home Information Packs when elected. Their Shadow Housing Minister Michael Gove MP has recently given the government a number of 'grillings' in the Commons over their misguided policy on HIPs. A recent Early Day Motion will give you a flavour of what the Tories think. The support of 132 MPs across all three parties is impressive, particularly bearing in mind 'Front Bench ' Members cannot add their names to EDMs -  see this link

TREVOR KENT'S PRESS RELEASE  - 10th April 2006

Trevor Kent, former president of The National Association of Estate Agents, and a fervent Anti-Home Information Pack campaigner, has poured scorn on the announcement from Yvette Cooper MP at the  ODPM that they are to institute a dry run to evaluate  the Packs' efficacy. The Housing Minister recently said that the dry run will  "make sure that all aspects of the Packs are properly tested before being fully introduced next year".

"What arrant nonsense this is" says Trevor Kent, " the ODPM's so called dry run is being conducted for them  exclusively by companies already totally committed mentally and financially to the introduction of the new scheme.  With multi-million pound investments already made by these participants with  the prospect of securing a share of the estimated 1.75m HIPs a year (at an average cost per report of £1000),  who's going to say to the ODPM  ' well actually our dry run findings reveal HIPs aren't needed and won't work' ?". 

Introduction of HIPs has been a Labour Manifesto pledge since 1997, but opposition has snowballed as professionals have realised the government is, at last, taking serious steps towards implementation despite  their dire warnings.  Trevor Kent suggests there is no public  support for the introduction of a legally enforceable two week delay before being 'allowed' to put one's home up for sale. He  also feels that owners will not be prepared to pay £1000 + for their HIP to be prepared by faceless Home Inspector/Conveyancer conglomerates and then see intimate details of their home and wealth posted on the internet and recorded in government departments for who knows what future snooping.   

"If Ms Cooper wants a serious and objective  report on whether Home Information Packs stand a cat in hell's chance of working and being accepted by the public, then she should include some of the 1000 branches of independent estate agents who wrote to her recently to tell her 'they won't' .  Or she could include some members of the Law Society's property division who recently said 'HIPs should come with a health warning'.  Even the Council of Mortgage Lenders have ' grave doubts'  now, and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors  are less supportive than they were," Kent adds.

The Conservative Party have pledged to repeal Home Information Packs if they are returned to power at the next election , and Ian Liddell-Grainger MP is to introduce a 10 Minute Rule Bill immediately the House returns after the Easter recess, calling for their immediate abolition. In the meantime Trevor Kent  continues to chant the mantra that 'Sellers Packs Legislation Is Not The Answer' -  and if there is to be a dry run to find out that he's right, then it should be fairly and objectively conducted.

 Trevor Kent
Former President of The National Association of Estate Agents
Anti-HIP Campaigner and Property Broadcaster
trevorkent@homeinformationpacks.com  
or 01753 885522

TREVOR KENT'S PRESS RELEASE  - 20th February 2006