The government are forced to delay Home Information packs and have radically altered the implementation

23rd May 2007

With only days to go before the planned introduction of Home Information Packs, the government have been forced into a humiliating climb-down by RICS

The government today bowed to pressure from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) to delay the introduction of Home Information Packs scheduled for the 1st June 2007.

After successfully defeating a challenge from inside the Commons last week, the way was clear for the HIP regime to commence. However RICS challenged the government through the courts by way of a Judicial Review which called for a complete review of the regime which they consider to be inherently flawed and of no use to the consumer.

There have been many rumours from people inside the industry that the much lauded Home information packs (HIPs) simply could not proceed in their current form. The government had failed to properly consult and failed to heed warnings about key areas of concern involving searches and the lack of qualified experts such as Domestic Energy Assessors (DEA's).

The Government today confirmed that they will be delaying the HIP implementation until 1 August instead of the planned start up on the 1 June. The Government has also apparently reached an agreement with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) on their judicial review of Energy Performance Certificates.

The Law Society who have opposed the haphazard way in which the government has gone about its business in this area, pronounced that the situation had now degenerated into a "shambles". Strong words indeed from a consistently calm voice in the industry. They commented as follows:

"A complete shambles" said the Law Society today as it commented on the government announcement that HIPs will be delayed to August 1 and initially only affect 4 bedroom houses and larger. "The government has turned the whole process of HIPs into a farce. Its consultation with stakeholders has fallen seriously short of what we would expect in a genuine consultation exercise for something as important as this for consumers." said Paul Marsh, Law Society deputy vice president.

The government has gone further by amending the implementation rules to incorporate a phased structure. From August 1 packs - including energy performance certificates - will be required for the sale of four bedroom and larger properties. These are the properties which are the most energy inefficient. They intend to phase in packs for smaller properties as sufficient energy assessors become ready to start work. At present there is nowhere near enough assessors to perform the task that was expected of them.

Today's news will come as a huge disappointment to businesses who have invested time and money on training staff, buying software and spending huge sums on marketing to promote their home sellers pack services.

There is likely to be an extreme reaction to this news in the coming weeks.

More to follow on this site as and when we have further updates.

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