24th February 2009
No 10 Downing Street has today
issued an official response to an Anti-Home
Information Pack Petition lodged by former president of
the National Association of Estate Agents, Trevor Kent, and
signed by 1694 members of the public.
In their response, the government
has confirmed that from 5th April, should a home-owner place
their property on the market for sale, even if they have paid
the average £350 for their Pack on day one, they
will be committing an offence if they put a sign up,
advertise it or even mention it to be for sale until
part of the Pack has been both completed and returned to them. Fines,
policed by Trading Standards Officers, are set at £200 a day
if they are caught.
The response http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page18363 clearly
explains that the basic Home Information Pack must
be in the seller's hands before marketing can legally
begin even after payment. Downing Street concede in the
response that this delay will always be a minimum of 3/5
days.
Trevor Kent, a practicing estate
agent and long-term critic of HIPs says "I am sorry, but
estate agents know that the average return time for a HIP is
currently more like 7 days for a simple property and twice
that for non-registered and Leasehold homes. Furthermore,
these delays are without the additional complicated PROPERTY
INFORMATION QUESTIONNAIRE which is to be added to the basic
HIP from April 5, and which
has not even been trialed yet, some sellers will wait
weeks".
"Not content with presiding
over an estimated 20% fall in the value of our homes, 75,000
of them about to be repossessed, and half a million owners sleepless
at night over the possibility of losing their homes, the
government charge sellers for a sales pack no one looks at,
and fines them if they try to find a buyer on day one without
one", says Trevor Kent, "this goes beyond Double Whammy, past
kicking owners whilst their down and into the realms of
sadistic torture. They must relent and, at the least, continue
to allow marketing to begin as soon as the HIP is
ordered, but
preferably scrap the whole damn lot".
END
Trevor Kent is
former President of the NAEA
and a property commentator for 20
years. He is based in South Bucks.
01753 885522
ISDN Radio quality available
Trevor Kent's original
petition to No 10 Downing Street
