Average cost of searches down 'some £30' - Beckett
Margaret Beckett, minister for the Department of Communities & Local Government (DCLG), has come under attack from Tory shadow housing minister, Grant Shapps, for allowing Pimlico House - the former 'grace and favour' home of David Blunkett - to be marketed for a month without a Home Information Pack (HIP) in the House of Commons today.
Ms Beckett admitted she was not familiar with the matter which emerged last month, saying: "I'm not familiar with the case you are quoting but I'm sure that law will be met by those replacing this property on the market as any other."
Apart from the usual Tory cries to abandon HIPs, Ms Beckett also revealed that 'some 1.2 million HIPs' had now been issued, according to 24dash.com ('Utterly superfluous' home information packs should be ditched, say Tories).
That's 'some' 450,000 more HIPs since 9th July 2008, according to the last observed note I made.
Searches
Ms Beckett also claimed that the "...average cost of searches has come down by some £30", adding that, in some cases, "the cost of a search has come down by £120".
'financial deniers'
But HIF forum regular, localshop, who operates as a search provider, believes that, following April, when Local Authorities set their own search fees: "Councils will sharply raise their prices once the competition is out of the way."
"The industry has changed for good. It's now overrun with charity workers in financial denial and that will remain the same even when the market picks up again now.
Add to that equation retards doing HIPS for £149+VAT and Local Authority charging on the way and it adds up to one thing.
Time to move on and leave the complete financial ruin to the denial merchants."
Pricing up a job (Home Inspector Forum).
[Update (21/01/09): read full HIP debate exchange from yesterday]
Tags: home-information-pack
