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More on Hip's
HIP HIP………………. HOORAY – AGAIN (I DON’T THINK SO)?
In my last article, I did say I would keep you informed on this issue.
Home Information Packs, were duly rolled out for four bedroomed properties and since were adopted for three bedroomed properties.
If you have seen one, you now get one of those energy assessment reports that look very much like the labels on a washing machine telling you what energy consumption band the property is in. As I intimated in my last article, I reckon it unlikely that energy consumption will be on the top of a buyer priority list when it comes to buying a property. Were it so, many of us would take up tepee living.
My take on it – what a load of nonsense. All this garbage has done is to create needless employment, and increased costs in the process of selling a property. I am not alone in my summation.
According to well-known estate agent Spricerhaart, HIPs are a total waste of time.
According to them, in cases where HIPs are mandatory and where offers have been accepted, only 10% of buyers bothered to read the pack before making their offer. Their chief executive, Paul Smith, has said that HIPs are an absolute waste of time, an irrelevance and an unnecessary cost. He said their figures showed a complete rejection by buyers and that HIPs should be scrapped immediately with the whole debacle written off as a mistake in order to restore confidence.
He went on to suggest that if the Government was determined to pursue HIPs, it must make a decision to extend the roll out to all properties to stop imbalance in the market and remove confusion. As usual, there is a half implemented initiative proving to be of no use to the buying and selling process.
Amen to that.
Somehow, I can’t see our government doing a u-turn on this, since admitting they are wrong is not their thing, though it’s in the news that the home secretary has apologised after it was revealed that the increase in foreign nationals working in the UK since 1997 was 1.1 million, 300,000 more than previously stated a mere 37.5% error [just to digress, here is an interesting little statistic for you. The claimant count (that’s folk actively seeking work) for Jobseeker's Allowance was 835,800 in September 2007. I obviously must be missing something or maybe these 835,800 are those that do not want to do the menial tasks that apparently the foreign workers will].
We have had a property market, in this land, for centuries and it has worked perfectly well. What’s that old adage now – ah yes, if it’s not broken, don’t fix it.
That’s for us, but for our illustrious government, if it’s already fixed, break it [and charge us for it].
Wouldn’t it be interesting to know just how much regulation in all its forms costs each one of us a year?
Mark Bracegirdle FCCA FMAAT
Note – the above article expresses the writer’s personal opinions on the premise that the country is still a democracy. No animals were hurt in the production of this article and the names of characters have been changed to protect the innocent. The information is as at 30th October 2007. Terms and conditions apply, always read the label. Thanks for listening.
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