Carsberg Review recommends optional HIPs

A new report on the residential property sector in England and Wales is recommending a number of reforms for the property buying and selling industry.

The Carsberg Review was commissioned by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) and the Association of Residential Letting Agents.

It criticises the system of voluntary regulation in the residential property sector for being inadequate and claims that the introduction of Home Information Packs (HIPs) has not provided the improvements to the home buying process that were intended.

The report’s author, Sir Bryan Carsberg, is in agreement with the NAEA which believes that HIPs should be voluntary with house sellers deciding whether or not to market their property with a pack.

The average cost of a HIP is around £350 and as the property market slows and homes take longer to sell, vendors are faced with the possibility that the local searches in the packs will be out of date before they have made their sale.

The report also recommends the establishment of a regulatory body to oversee estate and letting agents.

It wants such a body to provide professional qualifications that estate and letting agents would need to pass before they are allowed to practice.

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