Insurance News Archive

Early Hip roll out lauded

The impending roll out of Home Information Packs (Hips) will bring a greater transparency to the housing market, a spokesperson for the Association of Home Information Pack Providers (Ahipp) has said.

The director general of Ahipp Mike Ockenden's comments follow the early roll out of the packs in Cambridge last week, one of a number of areas in which teething problems can be assessed before their nationwide introduction in June.

Explaining that Hips were not "complicated", Mr Ockenden said that they would change the situation for property buyers by allowing them to flag up any "potential defects with the building".

He added: "I am confident they will have the desired impact."

Ann Springham, of the leading Hip provider the Property Search Group, said that the early rolling out of the packs would allow consumers to judge "the many benefits that Hips are capable of delivering".

However, the introduction of Hips could also impact upon the balance of the housing market, according to Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors spokesperson Richard Franklin, with many people looking to put their properties on the market before the packs' June introduction.

19 Feb 2007