Sharpe's Opinion
Tuesday, 9th Dec, 2008
David Jones Expresses His Support For HIPs
Home Information Packs, which cost about £300, are almost completely useless. They are a clog on the housing market. The information they contain does not obviate the need for prudent buyers to make the usual enquiries. […] They are a stupid, time-wasting irritation, whose only benefit appears to be the increased tax take the Government enjoys in the form of VAT.
You can feel the love he has for HIPs, and his joy at the proposed increase in their usage, just jumping off the page, can’t you.
Comments
The swear filter turns swearwords into asterisks, but the little-known secret is that it puts the original word in as the ‘title’ attribute, which means if you hold your mouse over the asterisks you can read what the original commenter intended to say. Best of both worlds, you see. 
I so wish you could turn off your swear-box for this one post.
Let’s start with basics. These HIPs only came about because the EU decreed that an EPC (Energy Performance Certificate) would be required per property, upon marketing, from 2009.
Yvette Cooper took it upon herself to – what? Further her career? It went wrong. Ruth Kelly paid the price.
As I have done my own conveyances (selling and buying) for around £50 (book plus HMSO forms) I have a good reason to moan. NO SANE buyer would assume the searches done at the point of sale would be the same as those presented in a HIP.
Seriously, nothing else to be said.
ladytizzy
December 10, 2008 at 12:44 am