Hips call disputed

A call for home information packs to no longer be mandatory has met with a cool response from a body that represents those who sell the packs.

The Carsberg report, produced by the former head of the Office of Fair Trading Sir Brian Carsberg on behalf of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, said that Hips had not improved the buying and selling process and thus should be made optional rather tan compulsory.

Sir Brian's assertion about the packs was queried by Paul Broadhead, the deputy director of the Association of Home Information Pack Providers.

He stated that new research showed that those transactions which involved Hips took an average of 12 days less to complete and suggested that this fact had come to light after the Carsberg report had finished studying the impact of Hips.

However, the major client director of propertyfinder.com, Nicholas Leeming contended that Hips had been "tinkered" with too much to be useful and now "they are nothing but a disruption to the housing market".

Those who use the self build option to get on the ladder can avoid dealings with Hips altogether.