Housing minister offers no definite timetable for one and two-bedroom home packs due to “unusual market conditions”

The Government yesterday claimed the volatile housing market was holding it back from rolling out Home Information Packs to one and two-bedroom properties. The rollout of Hips was originally expected to take place this autumn.

Minister Iain Wright said the housing market was experiencing “unusual conditions” that had led to uncertainty among consumers. Speaking at the Association of Home Information Pack Providers annual conference yesterday Wright said that government was currently considering a timetable for rolling out Hips and “we will set out the timetable for the next steps in due course”.

He added: “We are monitoring the housing market carefully to determine what impact recent financial market uncertainty has had and to confirm that HIPs have rolled out smoothly to larger properties.”

Reacting to the move, Hips supplier LMS said the industry “is absolutely ready for the full roll out of Hips across all properties”.