Delayed Hips mean ' increased clarity'

The delay in the introduction of Home Information Packs (Hips) will only serve to heighten greater clarity for the eventual implementation, according to experts.

Ruth Kelly, the communities secretary, announced earlier this week that Hips will be phased in from August rather than the original date of June 1st. But rather than this being seen as a dramatic U-turn, experts say that it should be seen as a "good thing" because it will mean more time for domestic energy assessors to prepare.

David Collett, the chairman of Bespoke Hips Company which provides Hips, said: "It's a good thing they have been delayed, only in the sense that they've dropped the need for the graphs to be on the actual property details before they're marketed.

"That obviously was a very good move because then it doesn't allow any bottle-necks and, secondly, it should allow sufficient time for enough domestic energy assessors to meet the demands of phasing in."

He said that from a consumer point of view, it means an extra few months of being able to sell their homes without paying for the packs. But it is a bad move for the domestic energy assessors who thought they would begin their new job on 1st June.



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