The HIP is Dead, Long Live the Energy Performance Certificate?

“ An overview of the plans by the Conservative Party to abolish home information packs if they win the general election in 2010. ”

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(iRealtyWire.Org) – The HIP is dead, long live the Energy Performance Certificate?

The headlines may be dominated with talk of election dates, policies and promises but for anyone connected to the property market the key question remains – what is the future for home information packs?

If the Conservative Party comes to power the Shadow housing minister, Grant Shapps, has continued to state that he will abolish the packs within weeks. There are conflicting reports on what, if anything, they will be replaced with. The Telegraph reported in mid-December that HIPS would be replaced by ‘exchange ready packs’ which would include a draft contract and the legal documents required for exchange of contracts.

The Tories were quick to correct the report with a spokesman for Shapps stating: “We won’t be replacing HIPs with anything compulsory, so in terms of another Pack it’s not going to happen unless the industry brings it forward and it’s voluntary.”

Assuming the end is nigh for the packs they’re still not going to go quietly. Many estate agents wrongly believed that packs could be scrapped under existing legislation, allowing Shapps to do this immediately and without recourse. Whilst the timetable has not been set, the magical figure of scrapping HIPs within 100 days has often been cited and this will include time for a consultation exercise. Unlike the consultation process prior to the implementation of home information packs, there are now many parties with a vested interest in their continuation.

AHIPP director general Mike Ockenden said “We are confident that he (Shapps) will find the great weight of opinion is now firmly in the camp of adapt don’t scrap”. Indeed there are not only HIP providers, but also those who make the components, supply the technology and provide the finance that will be affected. The complete scrapping of HIPs will certainly add to the unemployment figures, although estimates vary from 5000- 20,000 people.

Many of the elements that go into the current pack will survive of course. Searches will still be required, having caused considerable difficulty within the HIP wrapper for often being out of date or simply not accepted by the buyer’s solicitor. Without packs the responsibility for undertaking searches will revert back to the buyer’s solicitors, something which many would argue has never changed.

But what of the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC), which must remain in place regardless of the HIP future? The current stance from the Conservative party states that EPCs will go back to pre April 2009 requirements i.e. properties can be marketed for sale providing that an energy performance certificate has been commissioned on the property by the vendor. Potentially good news for domestic energy assessors, so many of whom have felt let down by both the government and promises of work by training providers and panels alike.

There will no doubt be further comment on the effectiveness of energy performance certificates and the level of compliance without the home information packs in place, but under a Conservative government the EPC looks set to step out of the shadow of the HIP and into the public eye.

http://www.energyperformancecertificates-epcs.co.uk provides residential energy performance certificates for a fixed fee nationwide across England Wales. Free information and articles on energy saving in the home are also available.