Financial services provider Legal & General has launched a full report to evaluate what it sees as the likely positive and negative aspects of the government's new Home Information Packs (Hips), which will be launched fully on June 1st.
After trials of the packs, sellers will now no longer have to include a Home Condition Report (HCR) and the company has predicted that optional take up of these documents will vary greatly.
Legal & General fears that this may cause confusion amongst buyers and complicate the process of buying a home as packs without an HCR might be felt of as having "something to hide".
"The Home Condition Report was seen by many as a crucial element of the Hips because buyers had the chance to see, up front, the state of the property before they made an offer, rather than finding out further down the track and potentially withdrawing or stalling," commented Stephen Smith, director of housing at Legal & General.
"Now that this report will be optional, it will be interesting to see how many sellers are prepared to pay for one."
With the launch date a little over 100 days away, getting up to speed on how Hips work is becoming an increased priority for those working in the housing market.
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