Express Mortgages Express Loans Bingo Lose Weight Franchising Dating Shopping Book Shop Find Spare Parts Cut Your Bills Wine Shop Legal Store FlatShare Cruises

EXPRESS COMMENT

POLITICAL POSTURING IS TO BLAME FOR HIPS SHAMBLES

Monday May 21,2007

Comment Speech Bubble Have your say(1)

The saga of the Home Information Packs is descending into a Whitehall farce.

Amid mounting concern over the scheme’s effect on the property market, there is now increasing evidence that there will not be enough assessors to carry out the energy performance inspections, a vital part of the new packs.

The HIP scheme is meant to go live in a fortnight yet large parts of the country appear to have no energy inspectors whatsoever. One firm of estate agents in Surrey described the situation as “desperate”. And in another reflection of the shambles the Government has created, the Department for Local Communities, which is in charge of the system, received so many online complaints about the absence of energy inspectors that it was forced to close down the HIP page on its website.

The Blair Government has always been stronger on rhetoric than on delivery but there have been few policies more unnecessary or more ineptly handled than the Home Information Packs.

They are a so-called solution in search of a problem. One can only ask: if HIPs are the answer, what on earth is the question? There are many failings in modern Britain but the property market is not one of them. Indeed, it is one of the most dynamic, efficient and transparent in the western world.

HIPs almost died an unlamented death when their absurd complexities became apparent. Then they were resurrected last year by the introduction of energy inspections, a move that gave Ministers the chance to pontificate about their environmental credentials. But now the entire property market is going to end up paying the price for this political posturing.

USELESS LABOURI GOVERMENT

22.05.07, 10:32am

THE HIP IS USELESS AND TOO EXPENSIVE. JUST LIKE THE INHERITANCE TAX. TYPICAL OF THE LABOUR VOTERS. THEY DONT THINK WISELY. TIME WE HAD THE CONSERVATIIIVES IN. THEY WILL SEE SOME SENSE. HAL.

• Posted by: chilvers12 • Report Comment