Hips 'need to be investigated'

By Jonathan Dawes, Tue 16 Mar 2010 - Published in Mortgages

The providers of home information packs (Hips) need to be scrutinised, an expert has suggested.

Recently, Birmingham City Council Trading Standards conducted an investigation into the products and discovered that 30 per cent are unsatisfactory when compared to regulations.

The research also showed that many of the problematic Hips did not reveal which firm produces them, leaving homeowners with no idea who to contact if they wanted to complain.

Commenting on the findings, Mike Ockenden, director general at the Association of Home Information Pack Providers, said they are worrying but pointed out that organisations which subscribed to the Hip Code were shown to have a lower error rate than others.

"Does it concern me that there are cowboys out there producing poor quality products? Yes it does. But I think the message that we need to get out to people is that it doesn't have to be that way," he commented.

Mr Ockenden added that other authorities should follow Birmingham's example and hold investigations into the reliability of the local Hip providers.

The expert claimed that this would naturally drive up standards in the market, as companies would be afraid of enforcement action being taken if they produced an unsatisfactory product.

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