What was the idea behind UK Home Information Packs?
This
was the situation when the UK's Labour Govenrnement, elected in
1997, came to power:
The
problem was the notoriously slow home selling process in England
and Wales. (Scotland, like so many of the former colonies, seems
to have slightly better people in charge who pass better ideas
into better laws).
To
cut a long story short, a lot of time and effort was being wasted.
A quarter of home sales weren't competing.
Despite
this commitment the seller was under no obligation
to sell until right up to the last minute when contracts were
exchanged. (See the process
of buying a home).
Home
sellers often changed their minds or, for whatever reason, things
go wrong.
Because
so many home buyers are involved in long and complex chains
a failure at any point can mean knock-on misery for all involved.
The Solution
Tony
Blair came to power in 1997 promising many changes. One of them
was to tackle this problem.
The
idea was to put the onus onto the homeseller to get together
the information on their property and show it to potential
buyers in a "Home Seller's Pack".
In
this way, for example, ten prospective buyers would not need
to get 10 surveys done.
It
would also show real commitment by the sellers
and so avoid time wasting "let's see if anyone offers
anything then let's change our minds anyway" attitudes.
To
read a background view from that time and why legislation was
thought necessary have a look at this article
from the Guardian.
The rest of this page covers the sordid
history of the initiative as it passed the legislative phases
through Parliament.. To cut to the current situation go here
Following
pressure from the opposition Conservative party and a petition
signed by 130 MPs in early July 2006, a significant part of
the proposed content of the Home Information Pack, the Home
Condition Report was scrapped.
The
Home Condition Report was the major part of the whole plan
that was going to replace the need for buyers to pay for a
survey. (It would have been paid for by the seller rather
than the buyer).
The
official reason given was that mortgage lenders were not going
to recognise Home Condition Reports as a substitute for a
survey, which meant they were effectively useless.
Great
news for the professional surveyors and Estate Agencies. Bad
news for innocent home buyers
Worries
that it might interfere with the property market was also
seen as a concern from ministers with the housing minister,
Yvette Cooper, stating that she didn’t want a ‘big
bang’ effect on the housing market.
The
Home Condition Report was at the heart of the Home Sellers
Pack and without it, it seemed a waste of time and
money from both the buyers and sellers point of view.
Around
that time the name of the initiative was subtly changed to
Home Information Pack.
So what
was the point in having a Home Information Pack without the
survey part?
The
government continued to insist it would all still be compulsory
from June 2007.
The Home Information Pack would now include:
A sale statement with the address of the
property, who is selling it, and information on whether
or not it is being sold with vacant possession.
Copies of title documents or deeds - proving
ownership by the seller - plus replies to standard council
property searches such as planning permissions, road
schemes, water and drainage.
Warranties and guarantees
for any building work.
Property
Use Forms (with details of neighbour or
boundary disputes and work carried out) and Contents Forms
(fixtures and fittings) were still a grey area.
An Energy Performance Certificate (EPC),
required under an EU directive, which gives A-G ratings
on the home and practical measures to cut fuel bills and
carbon emissions.
Not willing to let Home Condition Reports die completely the
government said that the Home Condition Report would be left
to market forces and that estate agents and lenders will be
encouraged to use them, but only voluntarily.
The
key here was a fatal combination in New Labour's belief in
the market always being a force for the good and the PR spin
available to ministers to hide behind the green fig
leaf of the Energy Performance Certificate.
This
part of the HSC was widely welcomed by the green lobby.
It seemed like a good idea given concerns over global warming
and the fact that a quarter of the UK's carbon emissions -
seen as the main culprit of global warming - come from residences.
However to anyone familiar with a government so pre occuppied
with image over reality, and style over substance, it was
seen as a cynical move to hide the failure to deliver on the
HIP's original aims.
A shabby launch
As
the June 07 launch date of Home Information Packs approached
there were severe criticisms of the effect it would have on
the housing market. It seems that ministers started to believe
tales of a housing market crash which would lead to a general
economic downturn. This was not a consensus opinion but was
mentioned often in the media - particularly the Daily Mail,
apparently the main driver of Tony Blair's policies.
In
addition it became clear that there would not be enough Energy
Performance Certificate inspectors available by the
launch.
The
government denied it strongly but weren't believed as this
type of basic error was fairly typical of a government which
has overseen some of the most shambolic mismanagement imaginable.
Examples?
OK How about these: Despite spending billions
on "management consultants" and improved pay, the National
Health Service remains a mess. Ask anyone who's been in hospital
recently. Hopefully they survived the MRSA;
the
Home Office is declared "not fit for purpose" by the
Home Secretary. To help them sort themselves out it is split in
two at sudden notice to an incredibly optimistic six week timescale;
and
finally five times more is now spent on subsidising
the appalling private railways than was spent on British Rail...
that's enough examples for now. Sadly there are many more.
Anyway
back to our gripping story; the wings started to come the
whole initiative when the latest minister in charge, the luckless
communities secretary, Ruth Kelly, was forced to postpone
the launch of the Home Information Packs a mere eight days
before D Day.
She
blamed the estate agents and other vested interests who had
issued a legal challenge and admitted, surprise surprise that
"barely 500 of 2,000 energy assessors
needed were available"
It
would instead start on the 1st of August 2007, but only for houses
with more than 4 bedrooms. Other size homes would follow later.
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IMPORTANT NOTE:
The report will only be made available free of charge
for a strictly limited time. After that, we are
considering selling it as a package for £97.00.
So, if you do not request it now, there is no
guarantee it will be available tomorrow… or even
the end of today… for free.
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