Home information packs are forcing people to think about energy efficiency

Filed Under Finance

Home information packs (HIP’s) are still not being seen by house sellers and buyers as adding any value to the sales process, however it does seem that they are forcing people to think about improving the energy efficiency of their home.

I must admit that when I was insulating our loft, it did occur to me that having far better insulation would be beneficial should we ever put the property on the market. The thought of an energy efficiency inspector shining his torch around the loft did spring to my mind when I was rolling out the rolls of Space Blanket insulation.

So this element of the HIPs scheme seems good. Not only does better energy efficiency save you money with lower heating bills, but it also reduces your carbon footprint.

It’s the other parts of the home information packs that seem to be far from useful to house buyers and certainly not to house sellers. If buyers are not interested in the contents of the reports, particularly if the local council searches are more than three months old, then it seems crazy that the house seller has to stump up to compile a number of legal documents without real purpose.

So almost three months into the HIPs scheme, they are still not considered useful, other than for the greater awareness of increasing energy efficiency.