Hips suffer another blow

Posted: 19 Jul 2007 11:08:47 GMT

Home information packs (Hips) have suffered another blow just weeks before they are due to introduced to the UK housing market.

Home information packs (Hips) have suffered another blow just weeks before they are due to introduced to the UK housing market.

The controversial packs have already had their launch date postponed due to a lack of qualified energy assessors and now the House of Lords has voted to call on the government to revoke their introduction.

The government was forced into an embarrassing stand down on Hips just days before they were due to be introduced on June 1st.

A new launch date of August 1st was decided upon but now Lords have voted 186 to 160 in favour of asking the government to cancel Hips.

Ministers are free to ignore the vote as it was not a "fatal bill" but the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) is calling upon them to heed the warnings.

"Even at this late stage, with the phased introduction of Hips due to start on August 1st, we yet again call on the government to proceed with the energy performance certificate – which we are in full support of – and to scrap the remainder of this ill-thought out pack," said NAEA chief executive Peter Bolton Smith.

Hips will be mandatory in the sale of homes with four or more bedrooms from August 1st with a blanket rollout planned in the coming months.

© Houseladder Ltd

Advertise FREE! Sell or Let your Property Online FREE 0% commission ...

HIPS Do You Need a Home information pack?

Sale & Let Signs Save thousands!!, Sell or Let your Property with a sign ...

Advertise on 100s of Sites and more ! Reach millions on 100s of sites...

Free eBook

House Prices Free access to official Land Regsitry Data ...

Mortgages Compare 1000s of Mortgages ...

Home Insurance Compare 100s of companies ...

MORE UK PROPERTY NEWS: July 2007

First Hips orders are received  Posted: 31 Jul 2007 11:06:11 GMT
Home information packs (Hips) are due to be introduced to the home selling process on Wednesday (August 1st).

Hips labelled "untrustworthy"  Posted: 31 Jul 2007 11:04:29 GMT
The Conservatives have launched a last-ditch attempt to derail Home information packs (Hips) just hours before they are due to be introduced.

Older sellers more trustworthy  Posted: 30 Jul 2007 11:34:33 GMT
People looking to buy a home may do well to purchase from a seller aged over 50.

Tories slam Hips  Posted: 30 Jul 2007 11:33:22 GMT
The Conservative Party has accused the government of using Home information packs (Hips) to lay the foundations for a council tax revaluation.

Hip loopholes rubbished by Ahipp  Posted: 27 Jul 2007 13:53:21 GMT
So-called loopholes in Home information pack (Hip) regulations have been rubbished.

Londoners most likely to take out mortgage  Posted: 27 Jul 2007 13:51:28 GMT
It looks as though homeowners in London should have no problem selling their property in the future.

House price growth stutters  Posted: 26 Jul 2007 10:42:44 GMT
House price growth has ground to almost a complete halt, according to new figures.

Mortgage lending hits highest ever figure  Posted: 26 Jul 2007 10:41:59 GMT
Gross mortgage lending reached record figures in June but the number of approvals fell sharply.

First-time-buyers 'can't be choosy'  Posted: 25 Jul 2007 11:19:14 GMT
First-time-buyers might have to be a little more flexible than they would like in order to get on the property ladder.

Knowing your friends key to co-buying  Posted: 25 Jul 2007 09:55:27 GMT
Knowing your friends is the key to making a success of co-buying, the Building Societies' Association (BSA) has warned.

Sluggish demand for home condition reports  Posted: 24 Jul 2007 11:05:28 GMT
Demand for home condition reports has been disappointing, according to the Association of Home Information Pack Providers (AHIPP).

Investors drive first-time buyers out of Belfast  Posted: 24 Jul 2007 10:32:10 GMT
Investor buyers have made Belfast an increasingly hostile environment for first-time buyers, according to one of the city's leading estate agents.

Property growth slows as rate rises take hold  Posted: 23 Jul 2007 10:50:26 GMT
The housing market is cooling after years of runaway property prices according to the latest figures from property site Rightmove.

Asking price growth slows  Posted: 23 Jul 2007 10:40:43 GMT
There was more evidence that the property market is beginning to cool this morning with the release of new figures from Rightmove.

Base rate may not rise  Posted: 20 Jul 2007 16:35:47 GMT
The assumption that the base rate will rise to six per cent in the coming months is beginning to lose some weight.

Beating the competition to sell your home  Posted: 20 Jul 2007 11:04:43 GMT
New research shows that there are fewer people looking to a buy a property at the moment, which means competition among sellers is heating up.

FTBs increase property market share  Posted: 19 Jul 2007 11:09:21 GMT
First-time buyers (FTBs) have increased their share of the property market for the first tie since February.

Hips suffer another blow  Posted: 19 Jul 2007 11:08:47 GMT
Home information packs (Hips) have suffered another blow just weeks before they are due to introduced to the UK housing market.

Are we heading for 6.5% base rate?  Posted: 18 Jul 2007 11:06:04 GMT
Mortgage holders are being told to prepare themselves for large increases in their payments.

Costly surprises hit FTBs  Posted: 18 Jul 2007 11:05:20 GMT
First-time buyers (FTBs) are being stung by nasty surprises within a year of moving into their first home because they are not carrying out proper checks.

Brits prepared to pay for third bedroom  Posted: 17 Jul 2007 11:09:03 GMT
Britons are so desperate to upgrade to a three bedroom house that they are willing to pay as much as £114,764 more for the privilege.

Lenders bumping up arrangement fees  Posted: 17 Jul 2007 11:07:10 GMT
A number of mortgage lenders have been exposed as bumping up arrangement fees in order to offer 'attractive' deals.

How we'll live in 2027  Posted: 16 Jul 2007 10:47:13 GMT
The homes we live in will change vastly in the next 20 years, according to a new report.

Mortgage applications up  Posted: 16 Jul 2007 10:45:40 GMT
The recent interest rate rise seems to have had little impact on home buyers, with mortgage applications reportedly up in June.

House price growth accelerates  Posted: 13 Jul 2007 10:52:24 GMT
House price growth rose in June, according to the FT house price index.

Out-of-date homes on agents' websites  Posted: 13 Jul 2007 10:51:35 GMT
Estate agents are being attacked for leaving properties on their websites months after they have been sold.

Price growth halves  Posted: 12 Jul 2007 16:17:43 GMT
New figures show that house price growth has slowed to half the pace of the previous month.

Major changes to housing  Posted: 12 Jul 2007 10:31:47 GMT
The government has pledged to build three million new homes by 2020.

Affordability down  Posted: 11 Jul 2007 10:41:12 GMT
Affordability continues to fall in the UK housing market, according to a new report.

Reaction to mortgage shake-up plans  Posted: 11 Jul 2007 10:39:55 GMT
Comments on the UK mortgage market by chancellor of the exchequer Alistair Darling have received a mixed response.

Govt plans housing shake-up  Posted: 10 Jul 2007 10:41:27 GMT
The government plans to bring in new measures to make it easier for first-time buyers (FTBs) to get onto the property ladder.

UK house prices continue to grow  Posted: 10 Jul 2007 10:40:40 GMT
Homeowners across the UK will be glad to hear that house prices throughout the country have grown in the second quarter of 2007.

Banks slammed over fees  Posted: 09 Jul 2007 10:26:39 GMT
Britain's banks have been slammed for hitting mortgage holders with high fees just days after the Bank of England increased interest rates.

Stamp duty stems flow of FTBs  Posted: 09 Jul 2007 10:25:08 GMT
It is becoming harder for first-time buyers (FTBs) to get onto the property ladder as increasing house prices lead to more people paying stamp duty.

Buy-to-let 'to benefit' from rate rises  Posted: 06 Jul 2007 16:51:54 GMT
The buy-to-let market is likely to benefit significantly as interest rates continue to rise, one mortgage lender has claimed.

Few living in "dream home"  Posted: 06 Jul 2007 11:01:37 GMT
Only a minority of British homeowners agree that they are living in their "dream home", new research suggests.

Rates rise by further 0.25%  Posted: 05 Jul 2007 14:50:19 GMT
The Bank of England's monetary policy committee (MPC) has voted to raise the base rate a further 0.25 per cent today - the fifth hike since August last year.

Tenancy deposit scheme 'not working'  Posted: 05 Jul 2007 11:06:34 GMT
The tenancy deposit scheme, set up to make managing disputes between landlords and tenants easier, has failed, the Residential Landlords Association (RLA) has claimed.

Halifax: prices up just 0.4% in June  Posted: 04 Jul 2007 15:48:19 GMT
House price increased by just 0.4 per cent in June, new figures suggest, as the slowdown in the property market appeared to continue.

HSE warns landlords on gas safety  Posted: 04 Jul 2007 11:00:22 GMT
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has warned landlords to ensure that gas appliances fitted in their properties are working well, following reported instances of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Buyers 'turning to internet'  Posted: 03 Jul 2007 11:05:09 GMT
Homebuyers are increasingly turning to the internet when beginning their search for the perfect property, new research suggests.

London lettings still booming  Posted: 03 Jul 2007 10:56:07 GMT
London's letting market has seen average rents rise by 4.2 per cent since April this year, figures released by Knight Frank reveal.

House price growth slows by half  Posted: 02 Jul 2007 14:44:05 GMT
The growth in house prices has slowed by half in the space of a month, the latest house price figures for England and Wales suggest.

50-year growth in homeownership revealed  Posted: 02 Jul 2007 10:56:35 GMT
Levels of homeownership in the UK have nearly doubled in the last 50 years, despite the widening gap between house prices and earnings, new research suggests.

UK PROPERTY NEWS: Archives

2008 August
2008 July
2008 June
2008 May
2008 April
2008 March
2008 February
2008 January
2007 December
2007 November
2007 October
2007 September
2007 August
2007 July
2007 June
2007 May
2007 April
2007 March
2007 February
2007 January
2006 December
2006 November
2006 October
2006 September
2006 August
2006 July
2006 June
2006 May
2006 April
2006 March