Hips save 12 days when selling property

Home information packs (Hips) shave 12 days of the time taken to exchange of contracts when selling a property, according to new research.

The much maligned documents are now delivering "real benefits" to homeowners following their initial launch in August 2007, according to the Association of Home Information Pack Providers (AHIPP).

"Even in their present incomplete form Hips are already having a positive impact on the market," said Paul Broadhead, deputy director general of the AHIPP.

"Consumers are benefiting from faster transactions, reduced stress, cheaper searches and better protection.

"With more consumer friendly information in packs from the beginning of next year along with the ending of estate agents marketing homes without packs, the benefits will be increasingly obvious for all to see," he added.

Hips are presently required at the end of a property transaction, with plans to make the document compulsory from the first day of marketing delayed until the "end of the year" by the government.

The AHIPP also finds the price of a local authority search has fallen by an average of 30 per cent, a shift that never would have taken place had Hips not been introduced.

"I believe the government should now go even further," continued Mr Broadhead.

"The provision of a condition report and full environmental information would really drive consumer demand for Hips.

"We recognise that there is much more work to do to build on this solid beginning. Fortunately, although the Hip product is not complete the regulatory framework is absolutely fit for purpose to drag this inefficient process into the 21st century."

However, the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) takes the opposite view of the home information packs, claiming they have had a "crippling effect" on the property industry.

Chris O'Toole