Hips For Three-Bedroom Homes

Owners of three-bedroom houses who put their property on the market in England and Wales will have to provide a home information pack (Hip) from today.

The packs, which include energy performance certificates (EPCs) for homes, standard searches and evidence title, are designed to speed up the buying process.

The change comes just after the packs became compulsory for four-bedroom homes, and means 60 per cent of the total housing stock is now covered by the rules.

The government is also believed to be considering making an announcement about the inclusion of smaller properties in the scheme in due course.

However, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) said sellers of four-bedroom properties have been shunning the housing market.

The number of four-bedroom properties for sale in August more than halved in certain areas across the country compared with the same month last year, the Institution said.

The National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) also claimed a fall in the number of four-bedroomed homes for sale since August 1. It said on average its members were reporting a 37 per cent fall in the number of larger homes on their books, with Hips cited as the main reason for the fall.

Peter Bolton King, Chief Executive at NAEA said: "Our concerns have always been that the introduction of Hips would lead to a lack of supply following implementation. This does not seem to be the case with four-bedroom homes and is now likely to be replicated in the three-bedroom homes market. The next few months will prove crucial in seeing whether Hips are going to cause the sort of problems we feared."

A spokesman for the DCLG said: "It is a ridiculous and wrong-headed to present normal patterns in the housing market as somehow linked to Hips - no serious economists are claiming this is the case and are clear that interest rates, house prices and stock market uncertainty continue to be the most significant factors in determining market behaviour."

(CD)