NAEA
11th March  2008

GOVERNMENT SPINS HIPS TRIALS

The National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) is very concerned that the Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG) is trying to cover up much of the MORI research into the Home Information Pack Area Trials.

 Last week the Government released details of the HIPs area trials and the NAEA was infuriated that the CLG decided to try to use agents as a scapegoat for the problems of HIPs.  However, as the NAEA suspected, a full reading of the research document reveals much more than suggested by the CLG’s own press release.

 Peter Bolton King, chief executive, NAEA, comments, “Clearly desperate to say something positive, the press release concentrated on the seller’s perception of the HIP.  ‘Eight out of ten felt that it contained everything they expected’ – well I would hope so, it is after all their house!  Is this really as positive as it gets? Nowhere did the press release concentrate on the buyers.  After all, the legislation was actually brought out for the benefit of the buyer in order to give them up-front information about the property they are looking to buy.” 

 A more detailed reading of the report, itself, indicates why the Government’s press release was so limited.

 Mr Bolton King continues, “Only 29% of sellers who actually sold a property with a HIP felt that it made the process more efficient.  As far as Buyers were concerned, only 20% felt that the HIP sped up the buying process and 41% of buyers thought that a HIP made the buying process more difficult.  Perhaps one of the most telling figures was that 76% said that the HIP had no effect on their decision to buy!”

 The NAEA is convinced that it is extremely important for the estate agency industry to engage with government.  However, this research confirms what the NAEA and its members have consistently said, that HIPs are not the way to improve the buying and selling process.

 Peter Bolton King, concludes, “It is a pity that the Government chose to ignore what we and other stakeholders said to them over the last few years. At the end of the day it is the consumer who is losing out.”

- Ends –

TREVOR KENT is former President of The NAEA  
01753 885522
ISDN Radio available.

Trevor Kent
7th March 2008

TREVOR KENT IS A FOUNDER MEMBER OF ANTI-HIP GROUP SPLINTA WHO SAYS : 
HIPS 'RESEARCH' GREETED WITH DERISION.

A press release today (6th March) from the Communities and Local Government department concerning Home Information Packs (HIPs), has been greeted with derision by the leading anti-HIP campaign group SPLINTA.

The CLG release details some of the findings of research by Ipsos MORI into the trials of HIPs carried out between November 2006 and April 2007, prior to their general introduction later in 2007. At the time the trials were heavily criticised as the publicity for the packs AND  was subsidised by CLG to the tune of some £4 million pounds. None of the results of the trials were made public before the imposition of HIPs on the entire residential property market. 

Head of SPLINTA, Nick Salmon, said today that the figures quoted in the CLG press release are being used to 'spin' the supposed benefits of HIPs and paint a thoroughly misleading picture of the reality of the packs in today's market. 

"CLG say 72% of sellers were satisfied with HIPs in the trial. Of course they were, as the packs costs them nothing. I'm surprised it wasn't 100%. Apparently 79% agreed that trial packs contained 'everything expected'. That is a meaningless statement as we have no idea what those sellers were expecting. 81% understood the documents including the Energy Performance Certificate. An EPC graph could be understood by a child but I don't believe that many people would understand easements, covenants and wayleaves without professional guidance, so I question just which documents these sellers were supposedly understanding."

Salmon went on to highlight a glaring omission from the CLG release.  "I find it extremely telling that this release is absolutely silent on the matter of whether or not HIPs are actually having a beneficial impact on transactions times and fall through rates in property sales - which was the original goal before saving the planet took priority.  In case they have not got that far in their analysis of the trial, let me tell the Minister what is happening in the real world today. HIPs are doing absolutely nothing to hold sales together, nor are they cutting the time between acceptance of offer and exchange of contracts. Buyers don't want to see them, and sellers have no interest in them. If she does not believe me, I challenge her to spend a few days actually in estate agents' offices to see the reality for herself" 

SPLINTA has campaigned against the Home Information Pack since 2001 and now has an online petition running on the Number 10 Downing Street website to try and head off a further change to the HIP legislation later this year. Nick Salmon thinks the Government has been taken aback by the massive public response to the petition and sees moves afoot to tarnish estate agents so that the aim of the petition fails. 

"HIPs are unloved by the property industry and unwanted by the public. They will become even more unpopular in June when the Government plans to end the ability of a seller to go on the market immediately they want to. Our petition against the ending of this 'first day marketing' concession is in the Top 20 by size of over 7,700 such petitions on the Number Ten Downing Street website. The implication of the CLG press release is that estate agents are in some way responsible for the fact that buyers don't see a HIP. They don't see it because they are not interested in seeing it and the suggestion is a blatant attempt by CLG to create a reason for ending first day marketing. If it wasn't potentially so serious, it would be laughable" 

Further information and comment: Nick Salmon 07831 805455

Notes to Editors. 

1. Currently the marketing of a property can begin as soon as the HIP is ordered but the Government intends to end this concession on 31st May 2008 and will require that the pack is physically complete before marketing commences. Campaigners argue that because HIPs take days to produce there will be delays for sellers wanting to sell quickly and the ending of the concession to begin marketing on the chosen first day is an infringement of the personal liberty to sell a property at will. The petition http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/homeselling has already attracted almost 9,000 signatures. 

2. The SPLINTA (SELLERS PACK LAW IS NOT THE ANSWER) campaign is supported by over 1,900 firms of estate agents, surveyors and solicitor/conveyancers with some 4,000 offices in England and Wales. For more information please visit http://www.splintacampaign.co.uk  

3. The CLG press release is here:  http://www.communities.gov.uk/news/corporate/713987  

SPLINTA
P.O. Box 398
Stevenage
SG1 9DR

ARMED WITH THIS RELEASE TREVOR KENT APPEARED ON BBC RADIO ALONGSIDE SHADOW HOUSING MINISTER GRANT SHAPPS WHO HAD SHORTLY BEFORE DESCRIBED LABOUR PARTY SPIN ON HIPS AS A 'FARCE'. BETWEEN THEM THEY LEFT LISTENERS IN NO DOUBT THAT HOME INFORMATION PACKS MUST BE REPEALED. 

Trevor Kent
01753 885522
trevor@homeinformationpacks.com 

Trevor Kent
29th February 2008

From my postbag !

Sent: Friday, February 22, 2008 2:55 PM

Subject: HIPS

For the attention of Trevor Kent Esq.

 

Dear Sir

I write in support of your campaign against this ill considered legislation. Can you give me any indication as to whether this legislation is being enforced, by whom and to what degree. I would be most grateful for any information on this.

 

Richard Thomas

29th January 2008

VOTE HERE TO RETAIN FIRST DAY MARKETING

Home Information Packs 'to affect market'

Trevor Kent
25th January 2008

HIPs, A PLEA FOR YOUR HELP - FROM TREVOR KENT 

Dear Homeowner, Homeseller or Homebuyer

 

If you are planning to sell a home any time in the future, you'll want to know this.

 

Despite massive opposition, the infamous and costly Home Information Pack has now been introduced for all residential properties coming to the market to be sold (and soon those to be let too).  They cost £300 to £600 and include a mandatory inspection of the interior of your home - and you still pay even if you don't sell.

 

Currently the government allows you to begin  marketing your home  as soon as the property's  HIP is 'ordered'.  However, Gordon Brown intends to end this concession on 31st May 2008.  The Law will then require that your HIP is physically complete before an advert can be placed or a board erected.  This will mean you may have to wait 15 days before the first viewer can inspect your home.  Mr Brown's new law also directs that the owner or agent be fined  £200 a day if caught marketing before the HIP arrives.

 

This is what you can do about it...

 

There is now an approved petition on the No 10 Downing Street website calling for 'First Day Marketing' to be allowed to continue.  Please sign it online and also forward this email to as many people as you can, especially friends and colleagues who may be thinking of buying or selling a home in the future.

 

Write to your MP pointing out you believe a fine for putting your home on the market when YOU want to is an infringement of your liberty.  If Labour believe they will lose votes and jeopardize their re-election, they may think again.  The Conservatives have already pledged to repeal HIPs.

 

Here's the link to the petition: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/homeselling

 

Many thanks for your support.

 

TREVOR KENT

Former President of The National

Association of Estate Agents &

Property Broadcaster

www.homeinformationpacks.com

01753 885522

Trevor Kent
11th January 2008

The Fight Goes On

In the House of Lords next Wednesday (16 January) Lord Dixon-Smith will move a Motion to annul the Home Information Pack (Amendment) Regulations 2007 which were laid in the House of Commons on 23 November 2007.  If Lord Dixon-Smith's motion is carried, a Humble Petition will be presented to Her Majesty The Queen calling for annulment.  

3rd January 2008

Communities and Local Government Committee Departmental Annual Report 2007

Thursday 3 January 2008

The decision to delay the introduction of Home Information Packs (HIPS) was taken on political rather than economic grounds, the Communities and Local Government Select Committee concludes today.

In its report on the DCLG Annual Report 2007 the Committee criticises the introduction of HIPs saying it was one of the areas where the Department failed to deliver. However the Committee commends the Department in a number of other areas of its work.

MPs say the decisions to delay and then to phase in HIPs for homes of different sizes across a period of months owed more to a failure of nerve, "in the face of vocal opposition from the press and others rather than the general conditions prevailing in the housing market."

CLG Committee Chairman Dr Phyllis Starkey said: "The long and tortuous process of introducing Home Information Packs signals a failure of delivery on CLG's part. It is clear the reasons for this lie in poor preparation and then a retreat by the Department's ministerial team."

More generally, the Committee recognises the Department faces difficult challenges because to a greater degree than perhaps any other Government Department CLG depends on others to deliver what it promises.

The Committee commends the work CLG has done with its partners on the Decent Homes programme, which it describes as an outstanding example of local government delivery.

The Committee is also encouraged that the overall number of accidental fire-related deaths has fallen to 227 in 2006-7 from 349 in 1998-9. However it notes that the time taken by fire services to respond to emergency calls is rising. In 2001 46 per cent of fires were responded to within five minutes but in 2006 that figure fell to 37 per cent. It would like to see more research into the impact of congestion on response times.

On race equality and community cohesion the Committee commends the introduction of a new sharper Public Service Agreement as part of the 2007 CSR process and it would like the Department to go even further and seek to influence change in local areas where cohesion is in question or where new threats to cohesion arise.

The Committee's Second Report of Session 2007-08-DCLG Annual Report 2007-will be published at 00.01 am on Thursday 3 January 2007.

Copies can be obtained on request from the Communities and Local Government Committee. Copies of the Report will be sent to all those who submitted evidence to the inquiry.

The Report can be viewed on the Committee's website from approximately noon on Thursday 3 January at: www.parliament.uk/clgcom <http://www.parliament.uk/clgcom>.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

In the Department's 2006 annual report HIPs were identified as a "key priority" for the coming year. Within weeks of this the then Secretary of State Ruth Kelly announced that the pack would not include a mandatory Home Condition Report, intended to save house buyers the cost and time spent purchasing expensive surveys of their own.

HIPs should have then been rolled out in June 2007 but were introduced two months late in August following considerable uncertainty and then only for homes with four or more bedrooms. Three-bedroomed homes were added in September, Only in December 2007 were the weakened HIPs being introduced for all homes marketed for sale.

Committee Membership is as follows: Dr Phyllis Starkey MP (Chair, Lab), Sir Paul Beresford MP (Con), Mr Clive Betts MP (Lab), John Cummings MP (Lab), Jim Dobbin MP (Lab/Co-op), Andrew George MP (Lib Dem), Mr Greg Hands MP (Con), Anne Main MP (Con), Mr Bill Olner MP (Lab), Dr John Pugh MP (Lib Dem), Emily Thornberry MP (Lab).

3rd January 2008

Conservatives

Independent report slams Labour for playing politics with HIPs

Responding to the annual Communities and Local Government Select Committee report which concludes that the delay to introducing Home Information Packs (HIPs) was taken on political rather than economic grounds, Shadow Housing Minister, Grant Shapps, said:

"Gordon Brown promised a new open type of politics yet this report slams Labour for playing politics with HIPs. The Government has buried the unfavourable results from their £4m HIPs trials by refusing to release them. The shambolic and secretive way in which Yvette Cooper has rolled out this botched policy is a disgrace.

"At a time when the housing market needs certainty and stability Labour provided chaos and confusion. Yvette Cooper should release the results of the HIPs’ trials, apologise to hard pressed home owners, and scrap this hated policy. The market doesn't need HIPs, the industry doesn't want them and consumers don't care about them.

“Labour should perform one of their trademark climbdowns and axe a policy which is increasingly strangling a struggling housing market."

ENDS

For further information, please contact Giles Kenningham 020 7984 8186 or 07765407903. Please find attached the Communities and Local Government Select

Notes to Editors

TEN WAYS HOME INFORMATION PACKS AREN’T VERY INFORMATIVE

The Government’s Home Information Pack regulations make a distinction between information that is ‘required’ in the Pack (compulsory elements) and that which is ‘authorised’ (optional). It is up to the seller whether to pay to include optional information.

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/SI/si2007/20071667.htm#8

In addition to licensing blight, Home Information Packs fail to require home sellers to include information on:

1. Subsidence, ground stability and the effects of mining or extractions.

2. Flood risk and other actual or potential environmental hazards.

3. Electrical safety of the wiring

4. Any restrictive covenants, including restrictions on resale or restrictions on use.

5. Liabilities to repair or maintain other buildings or land, not within the property itself (e.g. church property – under chancel repair liability).

6. Acquisition of any neighbouring land (other than the property itself) by a public authority that affects or might affect the property.

7. The potential or actual effects of existing transport services, including roads, waterways, trams and underground or over-ground railways (e.g. noise problems)

8. Near to any new planned road or highway, where such a development is more than 200 metres from the property.

9. Whether the property has failed to meet building or safety standards, and whether or not the property has any warranty or guarantee for defects on its design or building.

10. Rights of access to, over or affecting the property interest (e.g. can people walk through your land)

Government dropped plans to INCLUDE full flood risk information

The Environment Agency made representations for flood risk information to be included – yet the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (now the DCLG) dropped the plans. They previously Committee report.

said that including the information would be a key part of their plans against flooding:

“Home Information Packs have been developed to make the procedure for buying and selling homes in England and Wales easier and to bring pertinent information to the attention of those in the process of house buying. Defra is working closely with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and the Environment Agency to develop a suitable flood risk search for inclusion in the packs. As part of the overall HIPs work a consultation was held in Spring 2005, and a voluntary ‘dry-run’ of the home information pack will be carried out in Summer 2006 with a view to introducing these in early 2007.”

DEFRA, Increasing Awareness and Resilience to All Forms of Flooding Including Through Improved Flood Warning, October 2005.

http://www.defra.gov.uk/environ/fcd/policy/strategy/rf5rf6rf7.htm

WARNINGS IGNORED ON DIRTY LAND RISKS

The Council of Property Search Organisations has advised, “following extensive and detailed discussions during 2005, it was agreed by Government that flood, ground stability and other environmental searches should be ‘authorised’ for inclusion in the HIP and not required.  If this position is to be reviewed, we urge Government to consider carefully what environmental information should be included in the HIP to protect home buyers from being liable for high clean-up costs.  The inclusion of flood and ground stability information alone does not go far enough in informing homebuyers about environmental risks and fails to recognise the threat from contamination. Contamination poses a risk to both the health of the occupants and the value of the property. If contamination is found, liability for cleaning the site rests with the owner, and clean-up costs sometimes reach hundreds of thousands of pounds” (para 18-19).

Council of Property Search Organisations, CoPSO's response to CLG's HIPs update: Towards 1 June, February 2007.

http://www.copso.org.uk/publications/index.html

2nd January 2008

Trevor Kent

Trevor Kent
17 December 2007

RIGHTMOVE HIGHLIGHTS GOVERNMENT WRONG MOVE ON HIPS

NAEA
14 December 2007

Home Information Packs: Views of practitioners still divided – Lords Committee

HIPS 

As everyone should be aware, from today all residential properties coming onto the market require a HIP unless they come under one of a small number of exceptions.  There is still some confusion over properties currently requiring a HIP.  The  NAEA re-iterate that ,providing the property was marketed before the relevant date, a HIP is currently not required and no decision has been made as to when this may change.  Anyone telling you differently is incorrect.

Home Information Packs: Views of practitioners still divided – Lords Committee

The House of Lords Merits of Statutory Instruments Committee has today published a range of comments from practitioners in the housing market, which show that views about HIPs are still divided.

The Government has introduced HIPs for sales of residential properties in three phases: four-bedroom properties from 1 August 2007; three-bedroom properties from 10 September; and all properties from 14 December.

Regulations laid in late-November provide that, until 1 June 2008, while the lease must be included in the HIP, other leasehold documents will not have to be included.  The documents in question include property management rules, summaries of service charges, and requests for payments towards matters such as ground rent and building damage insurance. 

In its comments on these Regulations, the Merits Committee recognises that the Government has laid them in order to lessen the burden which the HIP requirements place on those marketing homes.  But the Committee also recalls its concern about the original policy that, without the mandatory inclusion of Home Condition Reports, HIPs might imperfectly achieve the objective of providing home-buyers with better information.

The Committee has received comments from a number of interested parties: the Association of Home Information Pack Providers; the Council for Mortgage Lenders; the Council of Property Search Organisations; the Law Society; the National Association of Estate Agents; the Royal Institution of Charted Surveyors; and the WWF. Practitioners in the housing market are split in their response to the HIP initiative in general, and the effects of the latest Regulations in particular. 

The Committee urges the Government to keep the implementation of HIP policy under review and to provide full information about the practical effects of its introduction.

In its report on the Home Information Pack (Amendment) Regulations 2007 (SI 2007/3301), the Merits Committee reviews the changes that the Government have made to the content and timing of their HIP policy over the last year, and draws on comments made to it by a number of interested organisations.    The Committee has reported the Regulations on the ground that they “give rise to issues of public policy likely to be of interest to the House”.

The Committee report is published by The Stationery Office as HL Paper 24 and is available online at:  http://www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/merits.cfm

NAEA
13 December 2007

HIPS SHAMBLES CONTINUES

Packs rolled out for all properties from tomorrow 

The National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) is reiterating its concern over home information packs (HIPs) as the industry prepares for tomorrow’s roll out to all properties newly entering the market. 

Stewart Lilly, President at the NAEA, comments: “This is a highly clumsy piece of legislation and we remain absolutely convinced that HIPs are not the way to improve the home buying and selling process or to deliver the important energy performance certificates (EPCs).  

“Time and time again the industry has advised the government against the Packs. We only hope that at some stage it starts listening. At the moment – EPCs aside – HIPs are just wasting everyone’s time. 

“Unfortunately, this shambles is set to cause problems for a while to come. The immediate worry is exactly how the Packs will impact on the market. Following the first two phases of the implementation we’ve already seen a decline in the number of new instructions available. What further damage HIPs will cause remains to be seen. 

“Looking forward, we are particularly worried about how the government proposes to deal with the issue of first day marketing from June next year. We are also waiting to hear about how the inclusion of all leasehold information will actually be dealt. 

“A complete mess has been made with this legislation. It really would be in everyone’s best interests to scrap HIPs.”

- Ends -  

Trevor Kent
22 November 2007

HIPS FOR ALL A SERIOUS MISTAKE - TREVOR KENT

HOME INFORMATION PACKS FOR ALL PROPERTIES FROM 14TH DECEMBER SAY GOVERNMENT TODAY -  BREATHTAKING OBSTINACY SAYS NAEA FORMER PRESIDENT.

Trevor Kent long-term opponent of Home Information Packs has reacted with incredulity to news today that HIPs will apply to all homes from 14th December. 

"Quite how the government can consider proceeding with a policy virtually every property professional in the land has ridiculed, is beyond me" he says.  "On August 1^st  4 bedroom and above were hit, with 3 bedroom homes incorporated on 10^th  September.  The experience of this partial implementation had already proved HIPs to be an ineffective, unnecessary and expensive intrusion into the market and resulted in a 35% reduction in properties coming on to agents' lists", he continued.

"Vendors are very unhappy to pay £350 - £700 for HIP reports, listing personal information on them and their homes and incorporating the Energy Performance Certificate, especially when they learn what is happening to the reports once prepared - nothing.  Prospective purchasers have no interest in reading them, and their solicitors are actively asking that the Packs are NOT sent to them when a sale is agreed.  Lenders have always indicated they would not rely on Pack information prepared by sellers and this is certainly the case in practice" says the former president of the National Association of Estate Agents. 

It is already an offence to market 3 bedroom + homes without a HIP having first been ordered and paid for (Local Councils can fine £200 if an owner or agent is caught), from 14th December bedsits, 1 and 2 bedroom homes will also fall under this draconian regime .

Trevor Kent concludes "the government's own pilot testing told them HIPs were a nonsense, reports from professional associations including The Law Society, the NAEA ,the RICS and the CML have confirmed that experience in spades, yet the government ignores them all and presses on - I'm flabbergasted at their arrogance and ignorance, it'll all end in tears".

End 

Trevor Kent has led Estate Agents against HIPs for ten years www.homeinformationpacks.com  and as past president of the NAEA regularly broadcasts on the property scene.

01753 885522
trevor@trevorkentmedia.com
ISDN QUALITY RADIO AVAILABLE

iammoving.com
22 November 2007

Over Half of Home-Moves Reconsidered, Thanks to HIPs

A recent survey carried out by the UK's only free online change of address service,  iammoving.com has revealed that HIPS make over one half of affected home-owners think twice about moving or prevent a move all together. Click on link for article.

Trevor Kent
14^th November 2007

YES MINISTER, YOU'LL BE A PLAGUE ON ALL OUR HOUSES

NAEA
24^th October 2007

Blatant lack of substance characterises latest CLG HIPs communication
Facts and figures needed to back up claims, says NAEA

An email sent today by the department of Communities and Local Government on home information packs is misleading and completely lacking substance, according to the National Association of Estate Agents. The letter talks of the “smooth implementation” of HIPs and the “good feedback from agents and consumers” but lacks any facts or figures to support these claims. Meanwhile, the picture being reported by agents on the ground is in fact very different.

Both NAEA President Stewart Lilly and Chief Executive Peter Bolton King were astounded by the claims made today, as evidence would suggest the market is in fact being affected by HIPs. Surveys conducted by both the NAEA and RICS recorded a drop in the number of 4 bedroom plus properties on the market following the first phase implementation of HIPs. 63% of NAEA agents surveyed reported decreases over and above the seasonal norm of on average 37%. Meanwhile, 53% of RICS respondents noted a decrease in 4 bedroom, or larger properties, coming onto the market with new instructions falling by an average of 51%.

In addition to this, agents have been reporting delays in the time taken to put the Packs together and a general lack of interest from consumers. One NAEA member from South Wales commented in a recent survey: “HIPs have without doubt not speeded up the house selling and buying process.” Another from Yorkshire added: “The public appear to be disinterested in HIPs, which are an 'unavoidable nuisance'”.

Stewart Lilly comments: “This latest communication from the government is blatant spin. It lacks any substance whatsoever – if there are in fact statistics to back up the claims then we would urge the CLG to make them public to save further embarrassment. We obviously welcome relevant information being released by government and would expect at least a balanced view that accepts that there are problems.

"The implied message from the CLG is that everything since the introduction of HIPs for 3 and 4 bedroomed properties is wonderful and rosy,” continues Stewart. “Our members are continually reporting to us that this is not the case. A number of HIP Providers are not supplying packs as quickly as promised. There are on going problems surrounding the supply of searches and their acceptance by the legal profession. Leasehold information is, as we expected, slow to obtain. Perhaps most worryingly the public are expressing little interest in this watered down HIP."

Peter Bolton King added: "The above problems clearly show that it is ridiculous to suggest that the implementation is trouble free. In addition, whilst saying that it is "monitoring the impact of HIPs", the CLG does not bother to make any comment on the effect HIPs are having on the market. The NAEA and others believe that there is clear evidence that new instructions in England and Wales are way below the normally expected levels even taking into account the slightly slower market caused by the interest rate rises. The government says that there is good feedback from consumers. Where is the evidence for this and why has there still been no publication of the HIP trial data? One can only assume that the government does not like what the results are telling them?"

Stewart Lilly concludes: “The reduction in supply following the initial launch of HIPs is set to have a significant impact on agents’ businesses. Ironically, the government itself stands to lose by this – its own forecasters reported last year that if there was more than a 10% reduction in the number of housing transactions in England and Wales then the government could lose as much as £3.5 billion. A sobering thought surely, even for a department desperate to save face by ploughing on with a useless initiative. Once again we urge: scrap HIPs and let energy performance certificates stand alone in their own right, as the only sensible part of the whole HIPs scheme.”

- Ends -

Trevor Kent  
16^th October 2007

Conservatives get the Ball Rolling on ousting Cooper's HIPs

Trevor Kent, former president of the National Association of Estate Agents and a fervent anti-HIP campaigner expressed delight today at the firm stance taken by Grant Shapps MP, the Shadow Housing Minister, in preparing the Civil Service and existing HIPs businesses for the reversal of HIPs post election.

He said "the Conservatives have consistently recognised this legislation to be the most inept bungling interventionism the property market has ever seen.  Yvette Cooper's introduction of HIPs has been conceived by amateurs and implemented by dullards not fit to run a corner shop, let alone the largest financial market in the country.  The ramifications of the HIPs debacle has hit the very fabric of economic life in England and Wales, and Scotland won't be long behind if Labour continues its 'deaf-ear' policy to professional advice from we who know ".

Grant Shapps’ letters today set out a warning to the Department for Communities and Local Government that the legislative reversal will be swift and that they best have a policy ready to minimise the disruption come the election.  In his second letter to AHIPP, an organisation only recently set up at the behest of the DCLG and with one of their ex-staff at its head, to represent big business 'HIP-sellers'  he asked them to warn their member to basically 'look for another job'. 

Trevor Kent concludes, "its a sad day when an opposition party is forced to put the jobs and investment of others on the line, but their firm decisiveness is needed when the property market is put at terminal risk by a government who has clearly lost the will to live itself".

End

Trevor Kent, former President of The National Association of Estate Agents was today made an Honorary Life Member of the Association.
He has broadcast and written on the property market for 20 years and consistently campaigned against Home Information Packs.

01753 885522
www.homeinformationpacks.com
trevor@trevorkent.com
ISDN Radio by arrangement 

16^th October 2007

Conservatives

Shapps: HIPs have no future under a Conservative Government

Shadow Housing Minister Grant Shapps has written to the Association of Home Information Pack Providers and the Department for Communities and Local Government to give them advance warning that a future Conservative Government will scrap HIPs.  

Shadow Housing Minister Grant Shapps said:  

“All the early evidence is that, as predicted, the introduction of HIPs is having a negative impact on homebuyers and sellers. Gordon Brown should have scrapped this pointless and costly bureaucracy long ago rather than risking the health of the property market when it is needed least.  

“Experts, the industry and the public have long opposed this unnecessary piece of red tape. We want to give clarity to the industry that HIPs have no future under a Conservative Government.”  

ENDS

LETTERS ARE REPRODUCED BELOW:

October 2007

Conservatives

Conservatives commit to scrapping the Government's failed Home Information Packs and easing Stamp Duty. Speaking at Conservative Party Conference in Blackpool , Shadow Housing Minister Grant Shapps said:

"The government says we need more homes. I agree.  But, this Government thinks the answer is to command housing targets from above.  And when communities object, with genuine concerns, they simply bulldoze the development through anyway.  

My constituency of Welwyn Hatfield is a perfect example. We're more than happy to create 6,000 new homes, but residents were stunned when the Government announced a further 4,000 properties should be built.  No sustainability study, no additional infrastructure and with the local hospital under threat.  And as for Brown's pledge that he would protect the Green Belt - no prizes for guessing where all those additional properties would be built.  When we protest, the Housing Minister calls us "Shocking" Nimbys.  Someone really should have told her that even the local Labour Party supports our campaign! Mind you, if she had looked in her own back yard, she might have noticed that six of her own Cabinet colleagues are objecting to new developments in theirs.  

The truth is this government sees ordinary people as an irritant... local communities as a problem... and their grand Whitehall masterplan as the solution.  But their big stick approach is failing...Home ownership is falling for the first time since records began. Mortgage repossessions and the number of people living in temporary accommodation have doubled since Labour came to power.  Meanwhile over 300,000 families with children live in cramped, unhealthy conditions and half-a-million homes are over-crowded.  The government announced that it would build 9,000 eco-homes - but they've managed just 900.  Labour said they'd help those on lower incomes and yet they've built less social housing than we did ever year under both John Major and Margaret Thatcher.  And as result the number of households on waiting lists has gone up by 60% under New Labour.  This government said it would build 200,000 houses every year. They fell well short but have now simply dreamt up an even bigger number - which they have no chance of delivering.  So when Gordon Brown grabs the headlines by raising his own targets, this time to build 3m homes by 2020 - do you believe him?  We can do better.  And today I can tell you how...We're going to recast the relationship between target-obsessed central government and bring power back to local people.  We'll incentivise local communities; so it's in their interest to create exciting new developments, built as a result of greater local democracy, not by crushing the very spirit of the democratic process.  And we'll start with an understanding that while people have very real concerns, with the right incentives they will act to improve their communities by creating more homes.  And we'll engage local residents so they are instrumental in the 'look and feel' of their new community, and they'll decide how areas will benefit from development.  I pledge to you today that we'll scrap the government's flawed density targets which force people to live on top of one another, creating the shortage of family homes - with all the resulting social consequences.  And I know that you share my concern over the practice of 'garden grabbing', so we'll change planning rules to recognise that brownfield does not mean your neighbours garden.

You know, this Government wanted to streamline the home-buying process, making it less bureaucratic and fairer. So what did they do?... They forced Home Information Packs upon us. They didn't listen when we said that HIPS are clumsy, ineffective and useless. And they had to bypass parliamentary scrutiny to force them through. The experts ridiculed them, the industry doesn't want them; the market doesn't need them; and I can announce to you today that the next Conservative Government - will scrap them.  

You see, we do understand and we do listen, and we know that our young people now cannot afford to get onto the property ladder - the number of first-time buyers has fallen to the lowest rate in 3 decades.  So to help the next generation get a foothold on the ladder, this week we've announced that we'll abolish Stamp Duty for first-time buyers on homes under £250,000. 9 out of 10 first-time buyers would no longer pay any Stamp Duty and we will be helping 200,000 young people realise their dream of owning their first home.  

And we want to extend home ownership to more people...So today I can also announce that we will introduce new schemes to reward 5 years of good tenant behaviour with an equity share in their social housing. 

This Government is leaving a generation behind; their hopes and aspirations crushed under Labour's clunking boot. It doesn't have to be that way. Imagine if the incentives to build new homes outweighed community reservations. Imagine if infrastructure actually led development, rather than being a casual afterthought.  

Imagine if local people actually benefited from more local houses, because their sons and daughters could live in the new homes. Imagine local politicians actually getting elected on the basis of improving services by backing new homes? Giving people more opportunity and power over their lives. With one district vying with another to gain consent to begin popular local house-building. How many more homes could we build as a nation?  Not through national building targets and a big stick, but because local people demand better services and more homes. And local councillors know that it is in their interest to deliver.  

This Labour Government has failed to build houses to match its previous lower targets, yet bizarrely it now wants you to believe that they can build even more.

They can't.

We will.

ENDS