HIPs - please tell me the point!

[Emu2005]

OK so on BBC this morning they had the housing minister preaching about the Home Information Packs and what they were good for - but the only thing that I really picked up on was that the new owner could learn how to be more energy efficient for that house - surely they could do this without the whole pack? So a few questions:
* Does anyone out there at all think they are a good idea?
* Who is making money out of this?
* Should the government just back down and admit it's a waste of time and money?

If anyone thinks they are a good idea I'd be really interested to know why.

Thanks!

[Twenty20]

Even the BBC conclude on their website that the HIPS are probably a waste of time...

I am buying a property. How much store should I set on the information in the pack?

The information will be useful but it may soon be out of date. Your solicitor may well advise that you get your own searches done.

Your mortgage provider may also want fresh property searches.

In other words, they may well disregard Hips.

[Loosehead]

The concept in theory is god but it has not been thought through, eg one survey per house per sale, brilliant! in practice lenders will want to do their own, so pointless. I think the whole things started with good intentions but should have been dropped when the flaws where apparent. However as is usual with this goverment they press on rather than admit to it being flawed.

[vehelpfulguy]

>The concept in theory is god

That high eh !

[kwicky]

The Tories have promised to remove HIPs if they achieve power. These have not been thoiught through and surely the seller will just add the cost to the house sale.

[LoftyLottie]

Absolutely stupid idea and not thought through at all. Anyone who lives in an 'older' house will have to produce a HIP which looks rubbish. The only houses that will come up with excellent HIPs will be new homes built to modern standards.

People who like a house will like it regardless of any HIP produced. And anyone with any sense will have a survey done anyway. They are a total waste of time and money.

[buildersmate]

Part of Lottie's answer actually eludes to one of the real reasons behind HIPs - to make buyers more aware of the thermal efficiency of the house they are proposing to buy. If the Government is serious about trying to reduce emissions, then it is but one way of raising mass visibility of this - albeit at householders expense . Then owners of 'less efficient' houses will perhaps spend money on insulation? - perhaps not, we shall see.

[LoftyLottie]

No my answer did not elude the benefits of thermal insulation, Builders Mate. Your answer presumes that people in older houses haven't already insultated their houses and done what is necessary to be comfortable and warm and save energy.

However, if, as I do you live in an old house with thick walls and low ceilings (and with bags of character too) you will realise that HIP's are not relevant. Of course our loft is insultated well, but I afraid cavity wall insultation is just not on if you don't have cavity walls and the thickness of the walls provides excellent insultation, warm in winter, cool in summer. I defy anybody to spend as little as I do on heating a large house and keep it (again as I do) really warm all winter long.

My house is cheaper to run and warmer than those of my friends in newbuilds!! Nobody that chooses to live in our house if we well is going to be in the least interested in a HIP. Our house would not fulfil a great many of the criteria of HIPS. They will buy it because they like it and want an older house with character, and, as I said before, employ a surveyor for a structural sur vey. A televion program I saw about HIPs shows a young man completing a HIP for a young couple. The young man hadn't got any idea about building methods, etc., but one of the questions was 'Do you have energy sa ving light bulbs?'. What a fiasco.

Therefore, HIPS serve no purpose whatsoever in a very large proportion of homes. There are so many types of building in this country, going back for centuries that the scheme just wont work. People are going to continue to buy houses they want to live in as home, not buildings that fulfil criteria that will be changed on a regular basis.

[LoftyLottie]

If we 'Sell' - not if we 'well'!

[kwicky]

I wonder how much insulation �500 would pay for (the cost of a HIP). The searches can quickly become out of date in a slow moving house market.

[Hotlardlife]

Yet another leftie liberal idea. No use whatsoever effectively a tax on selling your property as if stamp duty was not enough. Its just to provide employment to some more medling ******* from the nanny state.

Dont you just love the labour party

[johnizere]

Call me a sceptic, but I've said before that this is another way around the notion that the government and local councils are gathering information about each individual property. Remember the fuss made when the authorities announced they were going to visit every property and measure up living space, condition etc...to assess council tax banding?
Now they have agencies doing it for them under another guise.
I wonder who is going to use this information, and where is it going to be stored.

[Emu2005]

OK - not one person on here is in favour of them then! So why can't the government just back down - useless ar5eholes!

[Oneeyedvic]

The other thing that has been missed is that you are able to take your loft insulation and light bulbs with you when you leave - making your energy rating a load of twaddle.

[Lonnie]

All these things are, is another way of raising money for our money grabbing PM. nothing else.

[kwicky]

I blame it on Yvette Cooper, the minister responsible for HIPs. She is also married to Ed Balls a close confidente of the PM. They have two homes, one up North and one in London. This couple were in the news recently about these two properties. What do they list as there main residence...not the one in London near there place of work, but the one up North. Why? It was said in the papers that they are then able to claim travelling expenses (>�1000) for travel from their main Northern residence. And they put her in charge of HIPs.

[kwicky]

This article quotes a figure of �27000 gained by this pair

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml =/news/2007/09/24/nrules124.xml

[CathH]

I have just put my house up for sale and had a HIP survey carried out.
My boiler is "old" (over 2 years) and some of my double glazing is over 10 yrs old - therefore my house is not very energy efficient. Even though I get the boiler serviced regularly and the windows are fine.
I do have a very nice colourful chart on the internet though showing how energy efficient the house is (like when you buy a fridge!)