Speaking at Conservative Party Conference in Blackpool today,Shadow Housing Minister Grant Shapps said:

"The Government wanted to streamline the home-buying process, making it less bureaucratic and fairer. So what did they do?... They forced HIPS upon us.
They didn’t listen when we said that HIPS are clumsy, ineffective and useless. 

And they had to bypass democracy to force them through Parliament.
The experts ridiculed them, the industry doesn’t want them; the market doesn’t need them; 

and I can announce to you today that the 
next Conservative Government – will scrap them!"

My view is that Home Information Packs (HIPs) have not delivered on streamliningany part of the home buying process in England.  However, what theintroduction of HIPs have achieved is to create a new service industry aroundthe housing market (hum... Can you imagine the meeting where that idea was puton the table.  "Although the UK is over reliant on house building andthe housing market, I propose that we build yet another industry around it AND actively encourage people into it"  Sigh...The words Eggs and basket jump to mind. When will we learn! 

Now, it true tosay the HIPs in part came out of an EU directive requiring all homes to be  energy rated. The sensible Germans and the rest of Europe interpreted and requiredthat all houses being sold have an Energy Performance  Certificate, but we Brits decided on the fullmonty and introduced HIPs.

Here's hoping that the next government kicks HIPs into touch. What we needed was housing legislation  to protect the consumer from things which do affect them during the home buying process, like gazumping,  chain breakers, and the countless stories of untruthful estate agents. 

That would be a reform we at UKhousing would welcome and we are trusting the next government todo the right thing and get rid of HIPs and reform the home buying process.