Hip Replacement

27th June 2007

T. Wyn Jones

It’s all stop on the HIP front due to the Government’s recent announcement delaying its implementation until 1st August 2007 and then only for properties with four bedrooms or more.

The now proposed phased introduction starting with properties of 4-bedrooms or larger appears to all intents and purposes to be an arbitrary line drawn by a Government department. One wonders how many properties with 3-bedrooms plus a first floor study will be placed on the open market towards the end of this year? In addition, the rules have been amended to allow for a transitional period until the end of the year during which properties can be marketed once the HIP has been commissioned - rather than requiring the seller to wait until it has been received.

It is thought by some that the Home Information Pack was never intended as a means to speed up the property buying and selling process but a vehicle to implement the EEC directive for providing Energy Efficiency Reports and database on all properties throughout England & Wales – at a cost to the homeowner as opposed the Government direct.

On more than one occasion my wife has told me that I am a cynical soul. I like to think of myself as a realist. Whatever I may be I am firmly in the camp of those who think that the Home Information Pack (HIP) will fade away and never be implemented whereas the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) will be soon upon us, and become mandatory not for those just selling their house but for residential lets and commercial property.

Cynical me? Never.