It seems that full implementation of Home Information Packs south of the border has been delayed yet again. 

Until now, sellers in England have been able to advertise their home for sale even if they did not have a HIP - as long as they had instructed one.  That was all due to change in June when it would become compulsory to have a HIP ready before advertising started. 

Now, however, it seems that that change will be put back until the end of this year.  It is the last in a series of last minute changes that have bedeviled HIPs since their introduction.  Just weeks before they were due to go live, the requirement to include a survey was withdrawn and has never been re-instated.  At launch, HIPs were only required for four bedroom homes and over.  The requirement to provide a HIP was gradually extended to smaller homes over time and the change to having a HIP ready from the start was to be the end of the process.  Now that final rule has been postponed just three weeks before it was due to come in to force in the light of a collapse in the number of residential sales in England.

The news is important to Scotland because a related system, known as Home Reports, is due to come in to force here from the 1st of December this year.  Home Reports will be very different to HIPs in terms of content, but there is growing concern among industry professionals that their introduction will worsen an already slow property market.  The cost, which is likely to be between £450 and £1,000 depending on property value, may discourage people from advertising their homes for sale in a market when they are not certain of a quick sale at the right price.