Tories call for halt to home information packs

Thursday, 9 March 2006 12:00 AM

The Conservative party plans to pressurise the government into halting the introduction of home information packs (Hips).

Research by estate agents, published today, shows that the majority of the public would think twice about selling their house following the introduction of the packs in June 2007.

The Conservatives say the packs simply saddle sellers with additional costs, while doing nothing to halt gazumping or helping to speed up the process of buying a house.

Home information pack providers, however, say they will help first-time buyers take their first steps onto the property ladder.

Sellers will have to pay for the packs, which include information about a property including a home condition report, prior to putting their property on the market.

Opposing home information packs is part of a five-point plan from the Conservatives to help first-time buyers, after their numbers fell to near-record lows in 2005.

Shadow local government secretary Caroline Spelman said the party also wanted to build more homes, revitalise rundown suburban communities, open up shared ownership and remove the obstacles to social housing tenants buying their own home.

First-time buyers are likely to be the group most seriously affected by the introduction of home information packs, because they are more likely to want their own valuation in addition to the pack, according to the party.

Kirsty Allsopp, presenter of TV's Relocation, Relocation, said: "We need first-time buyers to keep the housing market buoyant, and we need the housing market to be doing well to keep the economy healthy.

"The problem with these sellers' packs is that first-time buyers in particular will be seriously affected. They're the ones most likely to be nervous about this huge financial commitment, and lack confidence in the survey."

Research by the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) shows that 73 per cent of homeowners would think twice about marketing their home for sale as a result of the mandatory cost of home information packs.

The packs are expected to cost between £600 and £1,000, but only 4.5 per cent of homeowners feel paying over £500 for a home information pack is reasonable, while 40 per cent of homeowners believe they should cost nothing at all.

"One of the biggest concerns the NAEA has about the introduction of Hips is that it will have a negative impact on the supply of property coming onto market," said NAEA chief executive Peter Bolton King.

"A very real consequence of this could be an increase in property values, which would further stunt the growth of the housing market."

Ms Spelman added: "The research highlights how the public are as concerned about the proposed sellers' packs as we are. The packs will do nothing to stop gazumping or speed up the actual process of buying a house.

"Instead, sellers will be saddled with an extra cost of up to £1,000; lenders will probably demand their own assessments; and many buyers will want their own survey instead of the one they are given."

But Mike Ockenden, director general of the Association of Home Information Pack Providers (AHIPP), said the packs would help first-time buyers.

"The introduction of Hips will actually help more of these buyers take their first step onto the property ladder by making the process of buying a home more affordable," he said.

"As Hips shift the cost of providing searches and surveys from buyers to sellers, first-time buyers are spared some of the 'hidden' additional costs of buying a home."

In the plans set out today, the Conservatives reaffirmed their commitment to home ownership through a strengthening of the right-to-buy for social tenants.

A flagship policy under Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s, the Tories believe the rights of social tenants to buy their own home has been diluted through cuts to the discounts and eligibility, and through stock transfers to housing associations.

They plan to work with housing associations to see how home ownership can be extended to their tenants.

They also want to widen the scope of shared ownership schemes, currently reserved for 'key workers' in the state sector. The current scheme is "too restrictive" even for public sector workers and this is creating a situation where new homes are lying empty, they say.

Conservatives have traditionally taken a reserved approach towards house building, but today's statement of aims sets out a desire to "ensure more homes are built", while providing greater power to local communities to decide where they should be built.

They want suburban communities revitalised as well as inner cities, and Tory leader David Cameron will be looking at changing planning regulations that are creating soulless blocks of flats without sufficient parking spaces.

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