As you may have already heard, the Government announced last week that HIP’s (Home information Packs) have been suspended with immediate affect, pending primary legislation to abolish them. I for one am delighted that the government has been listening to the agent through our voice at NFOPP (National Federation of Property Professionals) about the potential effect on the property market should there be any delay in the suspension. The property world in general all breathed a huge sigh of relief following the announcement after years of challenging the decision to implement HIP’s to the property market on the 1st of August 2007 in the first place and whether it actually assisted the sale/purchase of a property as it was meant to. The overriding majority have always maintained that it has been a costly (to the seller) unnecessary piece of legislation. Since the implementation of the HIP’s back in 2007 sellers have experienced delays in valuable marketing time whilst waiting for the pack to be completed in order to market their properties. Now the only legal requirement of a seller prior to placing the property on the market is to produce an EPC (energy performance certificate), this can generally be turned around within 48 hrs meaning marketing can commence very quickly. Finally agents are able to get back to what we do best, concentrate on selling a property as soon as possible rather than getting caught up in reams of red tape. Hooray!