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Order to suspend HIPs is signed

17 May 2010
Written by rosalind renshaw

An order to suspend HIPs has been signed, with the announcement of a suspension due this week as Parliament convenes.

According to well-placed sources, the order was signed on Friday morning.

The HIP industry is anxiously awaiting developments, and could mount a legal challenge to the suspension.

A note from the HIP Reform Group sent to its members says it is “firmly of the view that this would amount to an unlawful use of the statutory power (section 162). It could therefore be challenged in the Court. 

“Suspension of the HIP would kill our industry overnight. Not only would the HIP providers be affected, but the EPC market would also be instantly killed as responsibility for ordering the EPC would be left with the vendor. Thousands of jobs will be lost and livelihoods will be lost.”

The HIP Reform Group has called on all its members to lobby MPs and housing minister Grant Shapps.

Meanwhile Knight Frank called for the abolition of HIPs to go yet further, with the EPC pushed to the back of the transaction.

The firm said: “Only if this happens will the full damaging legacy of HIPs have been removed.”

Comments

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    the people who signed up to be trained on the HIP may have to just find other work , industries move on , all the people working in car manufacturing, coal pits, desicions have to be made and to put in your life savings into something like this was always a gamble, hips have done nothing for the industry.

    • 18 May 2011 09:15 AM
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    I am an estate agent in a busy office who has never been asked by a purchaser for a HIP on any property since their conception. It is a poorly thought out piece of legislation that has built an industry on the back of it which now has to be dismantled. No one wants to see any more people out of work,. However, if we continued with this nonsense to maintain jobs as seems to be the HIP industrys attitude , then we might as well be still mining coal.

    • 19 May 2010 16:12 PM
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    The 1st time I attended a HIP workshop, I asked the facilitator to explain what exactly the use of this new huddle in the buying process was. That was in 2006 or 2007. I am still waiting for a reply. I recall he had this gleeful look on his face seeing a full hall of gullible fodder. I always knew the only people benefitting were the franchise owners and the idea was a whole load of badly thought through bum kum. I have not been proved wrong yet. Most comments agree.
    OFF WITH HIPS!

    • 18 May 2010 02:37 AM
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    HIPS providers lose, but the whole economy gains jobs as speculative sellers join the market. More properties for sale will lead to people actually finding somewhere they want to move to, and splashing out on new carpets, bathrooms, garden plants, etc. A bost to the economy and more jobs.

    • 17 May 2010 17:42 PM
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    Its a shame that many people wil lose their jobs.The introduction of Hips was another ill conceived idea of the last goverment and many of us brokers did say at the time that HIPs would do nothing to help speed up house sales.My Company also buys and sells property and the Hips have been nothing but a pain .Good riddance

    • 17 May 2010 15:49 PM
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    Good idea or not, I hope John (1st post) loses his job soon and see how he feels. I have built up a HIP and EPC business over the last 3 yrs from my savings,1000's of people will lose their jobs and money they put into the provision of HIPs. Also don't forget the astronomical prices for HIPs were usually the result of Agents putting on their mark up.

    • 17 May 2010 13:21 PM
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    The HIPS were never worth the paper they were written on. HIP compilers will soon have to find something else to do for a living. Timeshare reps maybe?

    • 17 May 2010 12:25 PM
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    Apart from those people making money within the industry, HPS will go totally unmourned. It was a poorly thought-out process from the start which caused unnecessary cost for house sellers and acheived nothing. Good riddance!

    • 17 May 2010 11:19 AM
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    HIPs were a joke from the start. Often buyers did not see them (or EPCs)until the solicitor sent them out with the post completion paperwork. No one in the industry or the public took them seriously. EPCs are a nonsense too; even for a small 2 bed flat they say "consider zoned heating controls" how long would that take to recoup? As Noel says good riddance!

    • 17 May 2010 10:59 AM
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    About time a good idea in practice absolutely ruined. Adopt the Scotish system of transactions now. The HIPs have been a complete failure and have not help spead up transactions and have provided no more clarity to buyers so have failed the basic remit of what they were suppose to do. The only people who will be effected are the people who have trained to be inspectors which is wrong. Solicitors will continue to be involved in house sales and so will surveyors. The end user i.e people selling homes that dont sell will now not be out of pocket hundreds of pounds and people in financial trouble wont have the expensive of having to find money that they dont have and will be able to market their homes. Good ridance to bad rubbish.

    • 17 May 2010 10:27 AM
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    This is about a wider picture. Only when this dreadful legacy is killed off, can the market start to recover. I understand that the government are going to abolish private wheel clamping. Lots of jobs will no doubt go. Anyone going to moan about that one ?

    • 17 May 2010 10:27 AM
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    Its always been a bad idea. The hip providers had it good for a short while.

    • 17 May 2010 10:24 AM
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    those surveryors paid huge money for the course for
    qualification. What they have now? Will they get
    compensation from wrong
    decision maker?!?!

    • 17 May 2010 10:04 AM
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