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Housing: Home Information Packs

My Lords, when I saw my noble friend’s Unstarred Question on the Order Paper, I reflected that this year I have undertaken three transactions: I surrendered a tenancy in Pimlico, I bought a small terraced house in Vauxhall and I sold an old farmhouse in Essex. I therefore examined those transactions to see whether, if these HIP proposals had been in force, there was any prospect that they could have done anything to—I quote from the original news release from the ODPM in 2003— "““ensure the home buying and selling process becomes more certain, transparent and consumer friendly, whilst reducing stress and the number of failed transactions””." I entirely agree with what my noble friend said about the stress of moving house; my wife and I are getting on a bit in years and that makes it worse. I have studied the case. I attended a briefing on Monday and have read the 80 pages of the regulations—80 pages, what on earth are people supposed to make of that? I have come to the conclusion that I cannot begin to see how, if the HIP process had been in force for any of the three transactions that I undertook, it could have done anything other than increase the costs and multiply the bureaucracy. When I sold my house, my solicitors had no difficulty in getting hold of all the information that they needed, including information about title, so that they could draw up a contract and the conveyance. That included sufficient information to register the land for the first time, as it had not been registered before. When the first purchaser whose offer I had accepted failed to make any progress and I had to put the house on the market again, I asked my solicitor how much that failed transaction would increase his costs. He said that, as he had all the documents and all that he had to do was make other copies and send them off, it would probably cost about another £20. Is that what this massive bureaucracy is supposed to save? I cannot believe that the HIP process—particularly without the house condition survey, which has now been abandoned, as my noble friend said—could conceivably have helped me in any way at all. Apart from one matter—the energy performance certificates, to which I shall return in a moment—I have identified nothing in this process that would have made any of the three transactions anything other than more expensive. I cannot believe that that is what the Government would be happy with. The ultimate purchasers quite properly insisted on a fully qualified surveyor to survey my 150 year-old house. It is inconceivable that he could have been satisfied by the sort of house condition survey that the Government originally envisaged. The longest delay in the purchase of my house in Vauxhall was getting information out of the freeholder’s agents, and there is nothing in the HIP process that could conceivably have speeded that up. That was the only delay we had. Where does that leave us? The energy performance certificate is the only part that is worth having, and I could be persuaded that that would be worth while. I believe that the Government ought to withdraw the rest, start again with their energy performance certificates, and see where they get to.