Rics: government should postpone Hips launch

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Rics: government should postpone Hips launch

Thu 22nd Feb 2007

The government must postpone the mandatory introduction of home information packs (Hips), says Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics).

Rics has backed the opinion of the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) that Hips should not be launched yet and has offered various solutions to the government in how it can reform property buying in the UK.

On the other hand, Mike Ockenden, director general of the Association of Home Information Pack Providers has said that the "initial dry run" has been successful thus far with both the public and industry.

Rics spokesman Jeremy Leaf, said: "We believe that it is time to sweep up all the problems with home buying and selling rather than focus on the depleted home information pack which has most of the stuffing removed."

Echoing the sentiments of Rics, Alex Fraser, chief executive of CNLIS - the government-backed organisation designed to facilitate the change from manual to electronic property information - said the organisation also supports the CML's stance and local authorities are not currently ready for the introduction of Hips.

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