Its ‘HIP Awareness’ Index tracks estates agents’ awareness of the issues surrounding HIPs. Results from September showed:
Awareness:
With nine months until HIPs go live, the number of estate agents who were able to describe with some degree of accuracy what a HIP is rose to a record 89 per cent (83 per cent in August). Although this is good news, it still indicates that there is a way to go before all agencies are fully up-to-speed with the changing environment of HIPS.
HIPS implementation:
Just under a fifth (16 per cent) of estate agents said that the companies they worked for were not planning on trialing HIPs. Over half (57 per cent) were unaware of when their employers intended to trial HIPs. Many of the respondents admitted that confusion still reigns and a significant number were 'waiting to see what happens' before committing any more resources to the project. Just under a fifth (19 per cent) of those surveyed had started trialing HIPs.
Change of format to HIPS:
Of the estate agents surveyed, 48 per cent knew that the key change to HIPs was making the Home Condition Report (HCR) voluntary. The remaining respondents showed a definite lack of knowledge, either being unaware of the Government u-turn (45 per cent) or believing that the change was the withdrawal of Home Inspectors from the process all together (3 per cent).
Karen Babington, marketing director of Easier2move, commented: “The fact that this month’s Index is reporting the highest levels of awareness about HIPs this year is great news. More and more estate agents are being educated as to what these packs involve but the story doesn’t end there.
“At Easier2move, we believe that the removal of the HCR has caused widespread confusion and has only served to muddy the waters. The September ‘HIP Awareness’ Index shows that a fifth of agencies are not planning to trial HIPs at all. This is a worrying indication that for a large number of people the HCR was seen to be the most useful part of the HIP. Now that this has been made voluntary, there is real doubt in many estate agents minds as to the potential usefulness of the packs.
“Among many of the estate agents we surveyed there was a real sense of frustration that the goal posts keep moving and that any potential usefulness has now been lost. Perhaps this is the reason why preparation for June 2007 has been so lacking.”
