HIPs Extended to All Properties

The government announced on Thursday, from 14 December 2007 all properties sold in England and Wales will now require a Home Information Pack. We have followed the roll out from initially being required for four bedroom houses in August, to the inclusion of three bedroom properties in September.

Included in HIPs is an energy performance certificates (EPCs) will give homes an efficiency rating of A - G. To date the average EPC rating has been an "E". Buyers whose homes score badly will receive extra help from the new Green Homes Service announced this week by Gordon Brown.

"Hips and EPCs are already helping consumers to save hundreds of pounds off their fuel bills. All home buyers will be able to benefit from energy efficiency advice, with those receiving low green ratings of 'F' and 'G' especially targeted for support and grants"
Yvette Cooper, Housing Minister

This is the completion of the roll-out of HIPs and I am glad to see that this has been efficiently rolled out in a period of less than six months, as I feared back in august it was going to be a drawn out process lasting in excess of a year. The final 40% of the housing stock affected results in a further 8.4m homes requiring a pack should they be going on to the market. The launch of the Green Homes Service will compliment EPCs, as owners seek to improve their homes efficiency. The inclusion of homes with one and two bedrooms will also be a positive move to reducing the emissions from homes as these are most likely to have a higher footprint per capita.