Mullucks Wells
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Mullucks Wells Slams Government over HIPs Delay
Local estate agent Mullucks Wells has criticised the latest Government change of heart on Home Information Packs, which has delayed their introduction by two months.
Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly has announced that HIPs will now come into effect on the 1st of August rather than the 1st of June, and will then only apply to properties with four bedrooms or more. The process for smaller properties will be reviewed at a later date – with no time scale yet given.
Another new twist is that owners will be able to go to the market as soon as the pack is instructed, rather than waiting for up to 14 days for the documentation to be produced, as originally planned. In addition, the Energy Performance Certificate can now be instigated up to 12 months prior to the property coming onto the open market, rather than 3 months as previously indicated.
Mullucks Wells Director William Wells said: “The introduction of Home Information Packs has been a total shambles. Whilst some of the new changes may be welcome, to have them made at the eleventh hour is clearly irresponsible. If we all ran our companies in this fashion, we’d go out of business!
“Personally, I feel very sorry for those people who have worked long and hard to train as Home Inspectors and Energy Assessors. Their ability to make long term plans for the future has been thrown into chaos.
“For months now, we’ve been explaining why the plans for HIPs have been fundamentally flawed – why they won’t meet the original objectives of speeding up transactions, and reducing the number of aborted sales. But we’ve been consistently ignored.
“This latest announcement suggests that the Government and its advisors have little understanding or appreciation of the housing market.”
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