Information packs extended to 3-bed homes

Information packs extended to 3-bed homes

Anyone selling a three-bedroom home after September 10 will have to provide the buyer with a home information pack, after the government said yesterday it was expanding the controversial scheme.

The Department for Communities and Local Government said it had enough energy assessors on its books to expand the scheme to three-bedroom homes.

Since the start of August, sellers of properties with four or more bedrooms have had to commission a £400 pack which includes an energy performance certificate, property searches and evidence of title.

The scheme, which will now cover 60% of all properties sold, has been dogged by controversy. Plans for the packs to include a home condition report or survey had to be dropped and the introduction was delayed and scaled down.

The communities minister Baroness Andrews said yesterday a further announcement on extending Hips to smaller properties would be made "in due course".

Mike Ockenden, director general of the Association of Home Information Pack Providers, said: "We are delighted that the decision has been made so soon after the introduction of four bedroom homes, and with some 3,500 assessors now accredited and ready to go, I would expect this to be extended to all homes very soon."

In contrast, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, whose legal challenge led to the delays in its introduction, was scathing. "We find it hard to believe that the government is pressing ahead with this.....continued below

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policy at such short notice without first conducting a proper market impact study. The government has no idea how this will affect the housing market."

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