Adam Holloway
Main Page: Adam Holloway (Conservative - Gravesham)
Jessica Lee (Erewash) (Con)
1. What assessment has been made of the effect on providers of home information packs of the suspension of the requirement for such packs to be produced.
Mr Adam Holloway (Gravesham) (Con)
3. What assessment he has made of the effect on the housing market of the suspension of the requirement to provide home information packs.
The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Mr Eric Pickles)
The suspension of HIPs has given a much needed boost to the housing market. Reports from the industry suggest that the number of new homes coming on to the market has increased by more than one third since HIPs were suspended. We have also estimated that abolishing HIPs could save consumers just short of £900 million over the next 10 years.
Mr Pickles
I am delighted to inform my hon. Friend that joy and happiness among estate agents is not confined to Erewash. Throughout the land, there is a general understanding that the drag anchor that HIPs were is no longer a constraint on the housing market.
Mr Holloway
What further plans does the Secretary of State have to roll out that happiness and smooth the conveyancing process?
Mr Pickles
I am all for spreading as much joy and happiness, and indeed love, as I can, where’er I go. It was clear even from the trials that HIPs were going to be a real mess. We now need to look to the future and at what can be done to speed up transactions. I know that my right hon. Friend the Minister for Housing is looking at ways to speed up the introduction of e-conveyancing.