Rollout of Hips is complete

Posted: 14 Dec 2007 11:08:02 GMT

Home information packs (Hips) are finally a mandatory part of the home-selling process for all properties in England and Wales.

Home information packs (Hips) are finally a mandatory part of the home-selling process for all properties in England and Wales.

It follows months of confusion and controversy over when the packs would be fully rolled out.

Initially, Hips were set to be introduced to the entire housing market in June of this year but had to be postponed due to a lack of qualified energy assessors.

It was then announced that the packs would be introduced for properties with four or more bedrooms from August 10th before being expanded to include three-bedroom homes in September.

After a two-month wait, Hips have finally been expanded to all properties and the Association of Home Information Pack Providers (Ahipp) has welcomed the news, although the organisation wants more to be done.

"We welcome the full roll out of Hips today in particular because of the help they give to first-time buyers but this is only the beginning," said Mike Ockenden from Ahipp.

"We are now looking to work with all other industries involved in the home buying and selling process to develop and improve Hips and their content, so that they can be fully incorporated into the house buying process," he added.

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