From what I can tell, very little. There seems to have been a complete lack of communication between all of the parties involved and I doubt that consumers know much about the packs at all. While the announcement of HIPs was met with a fanfare, designed to improve the house buying, and selling process, its watering down has meant that little by little, people have lost interest.
The HIPs dry-run results have yet to be fully announced, but what information can be gathered is that people selling their houses have been offered free HIPs or incentives to use the systems. This will surely not be the case come 1 June, 100 days away when HIPs – supposedly – launch into the market.
The decision to increase the scope of the dry-run, encompassing new areas, has surely come too late to have any real impact, and there has been a distinct lack of promotion about the implementation of HIPs. While those in the industry are gearing themselves up for the packs, in whatever way they currently can, those on the outside – the people HIPs are supposed to benefit – have had little information to feed upon.
Unless the government and HIP providers have a plan to ‘carpet bomb’ consumers with the benefits that HIPs will provide, it seems that June onwards could prove a testing time for those active in the market, and most worryingly of all; consumers.
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