HIPs to be phased in from February

Home improvement packs (Hips) are to be phased in beginning in spring 2007 so that the procedures are all in place for June 2007 when they become a legal requirement.

A Hip provider, allhip, says that it is providing slimmed-down Hips free-of-charge to estate agents from February so they can get acquainted with the documentation and get to grips with how they should present surveys, title deeds and home condition reports.

Ben Wood, a partner at allhip, said: "From the February 1st 2007 we are producing a document which is basically a slim hip. It is called a Sale Data Pack and will include land registry details home contents form, home use form these are some of the documents that will be included in the home information pack.

"That will be available free of charge to any estate agent and they can make that available free of charge to their client. That way we will all get used to the systems and get used to the idea of the packs."

Hips will hopefully result in less transactions falling through and much greater speed and certainty in the process, according to the Association of Home Information Pack Providers.


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