[tag]Home Information Packs[/tag] are now not going to be mandatory until 1st August 2007, although only properties with four or more bedrooms are going to need them.  Cynics of the way that the whole matter has been handled have even suggested that the final decision about the future of HIP's and [tag]Energy Performance Certificates[/tag] (EPC's) will be delayed until Gordon Brown takes over.

Apparently the plan is for a phased introduction of HIP's or Seller's Packs over the rest of the year, when the impact of the August introduction has been assessed. This has the potential to develop into a classic catch22 situation. HIP's and EPC's can not be fully introduced until there are enough qualified inspectors to carry out the job. Because of all the confusion over the introduction of [tag]Seller's Packs[/tag] the organisations responsible for the training and certification of inspectors has reported that new applications have dried up. Let's face it, who in their right mind would pay several thousand pounds for training only to be left in limbo?

Aside from the official line that HIPs will be required for all properties being marketed with four bedrooms or more from 1st August, very little else has been said about the future.  There is one piece of irony that should not be lost in all this mess. The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) were the organisation who finally managed to stall the introduction of HIPs with the application to the courts for a judicial review of the way that EPC's had been introduced.  The irony is that RICS were one of the organisations who would have benefited financially from carrying out the training and induction of new inspectors. And, just to make life more interesting, hose reports issued after 1^st August will now be valid of 12 months instead of 6 months as originally intended.

So, what about this business of four bedrooms, is there a definition of a bedroom? Well actually no - Which means that theoretically there is nothing to stop someone marketing their property as a 3-bed house with study / computer room / dressing room.  The greatest penalty would probably come from the difficulty in marketing a 3-bed house with a 4-bed price tag.

What do you think? Did you put your property on the market to avoid the introduction of Home Information Packs?