'Half of HIPs money wasted', says Shapps

Monday 27th July 2009

Shadow housing minister Grant Shapps has renewed his call for HIPs to be ditched, after discovering that nearly half of all houses on the market last year failed to sell.

In 2008, 1.1m HIPs were purchased, but only about 650,000 homes were sold.

He estimates the total value of the HIPs bought to be £319m, netting the Government £44m in VAT.

Shapps said: “Home Information Packs are not trusted and are costing a struggling housing market hundreds of millions.

“It’s hypocritical for the Chancellor to be making so much out of an unnecessary and thoroughly discredited level of bureaucracy.”

AHIPP hits out at Tory claims on wasted Packs

Wednesday 29th July 2009

The Association of Home Information Pack Providers has hit out at Tory claims that half of the money spent on HIPs last year was wasted because the properties were unsold.

Director general Mike Ockenden said that shadow housing minister Grant Shapps’s statement was “simply inaccurate”.

Ockenden went on: “He states that in 2008, 1.1m HIPs were purchased, but only 650,000 homes were sold. Perhaps, however, Mr Shapps should have stopped to consider how many of these properties went on to be sold in 2009. While it is easy to interpret statistics on an annual basis, this type of over-simplification makes accurate analysis impossible.

“By using the statistics in this way Mr Shapps fails to take into account the most basic workings of the market. I’m also unable to see how this assertion corresponds with his previous claim that non-compliance levels [with HIPs] for 2008 were 50%.

“It must be noted that the shadow housing minister is now alone in claiming that HIPs have had an adverse affect on the property market.

“His immovable stance on the issue is increasingly worrying, particularly given that property professionals are now almost universal in their calls for HIPs to be adapted rather than scrapped.

“In the current climate, both the industry and the public are in need of guidance, not contradictory or misleading statements.”

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Home Information Packs
Grant Shapps confirmed that the Conservative pledge to scrap HIPs "immediately" would be included in the Conservative Party manifesto. They will keep Energy Performance Certificates although they will be "less bureaucratic" and revert to the pre-April timing. I made the point that there are potential areas of improvement in format and content and they said they would happy to consider any suggestions from NFoPP along these lines.  

Energy Efficiency Improvements
Mr. Shapps mentioned this scheme where homeowners will be able to spend up to £6,500 on energy improvements to their homes, which would be repaid over a number of years through their energy bills. PBK enquired as to the implications for the lettings industry as it was not clear as to whether repayments would be made to a tenant or landlord. Grant Shapps offered to put the NFoPP in touch with Greg Barker, the Shadow Energy and Climate Change Secretary, in order that we may provide clarification for our members. On the subject of Lettings we were assured that the forthcoming Conservative Review of the Private Rented Sector would not be anything more than a small internal review.  

Registration and Licensing of Estate Agents, Letting Agents and Landlords
It was made clear that the Conservatives saw the way forward as self regulation as opposed to any compulsory scheme. Mr. Shapps said that most estate agents were very good at their job and it was only a very small minority, as with any industry, that could be a problem. He preferred that the NFoPP continued its current policy, which he felt as in the case of the ARLA Licensing Scheme, was a model for the industry.  He added that the NFoPP had made great strides in improving the sector in recent years but that if circumstances necessitated regulation at some point in the future the Conservatives would much prefer a "light touch" approach.  

Affordable Housing
I raised the issue of the massive administration costs associated with this sector. Grant Shapps confirmed that he was already looking at ways of streamlining the process with a view to making this more cost effective. We raised the issue of Specifications for Affordable Homes, which were often higher than those in the private sector, and the attendant difficulties. Mr Shapps said that we wanted to look at ways to bring the standards closer together.

Other subjects discussed were difficulties of home buyers in obtaining mortgages, rates on empty commercial properties and the problems for private developers in raising finance for housing projects which could lead to a shortage of supply of new properties when the market picks up again.  

We came away with the feeling that the points we raised had been listened to, understood and where we believed action was required it would be carefully considered.
Yours sincerely,
Gary Smith
8.07.09