HIPS To Cover All Properties

Home information packs (Hips) will be required for all properties being sold in England and Wales from 14 December, the government has announced. Since September, all properties with three or more bedrooms have required a Hip before they can be sold.

Housing Minister Yvette Cooper said the extension of the scheme to one- and two-bedroom properties from December 14 would help first-time buyers.

However, surveyors have warned that the extra cost of the packs for sellers could lead to fewer "starter homes" being put on the market.Jeremy Leaf, a spokesman for the RICS, said: "The Housing Minister needs to understand that rolling HIPs out to one- and two-bed properties could find first-time buyers caught between a rock and a hard place as accessibility to the market would go off the scale.