HOUSING BILL AND POSTPONEMENT OF HOME INFORMATION PACKS

Early day motion 616, tabled 11 February 2004 by Ian Gibson (Labour). Signed by 64 members.

That this House believes that the process of buying and selling a house in England and Wales should be improved; thinks that proposals contained in the Housing Bill to introduce home information packs (HIPs) are not in the best interest of the consumer and will not significantly improve the problems faced by home buyers and sellers; recognises that mandatory HIPs will delay properties coming on to the market and that the cost to each seller of compiling an HIP is estimated to be ú600, and ú1,000 in London, which will burden consumers with at least ú300 million of extra costs per year; endorses the recommendations of the Select Committee of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, in its pre-legislative scrutiny of the Draft Housing Bill, that the mandatory introduction of HIPs should be postponed until extensive pilot-testing has been carried out in different parts of the country; and therefore urges the Government to consider whether the wholesale introduction of home information packs is either necessary or of benefit to the home buying and selling process.

Signatures by party: Labour 27, Liberal Democrat 18, Conservative 17, Labour/Co-operative 2.