Simply HIP is to hire another 100 staff to cope with the potential increased demand for the sellers packs. Rightmove decided to pull out the HIP market following the government’s announcement that Home Condition Reports (HCRs) would no longer form a mandatory part of the packs, despite having already invested £7 million in the scheme.
Ashley King, managing director of Simply HIP, said: “Rightmove’s decision to withdraw from the market, which I’m sure was for sound business reasons as they relate to its particular circumstances, offers us a huge opportunity which we are grasping with both hands.”
As consumers will now have the choice of whether or not to include the HCR as part of the pack, the potential earnings from HIPs is likely to be greatly reduced. But King said consumers with nothing to hide were likely to see the advantages of HCRs and would take them up as probable costs would be in the region of £100 to £150.
King added: “A two-phased approach for the introduction of HIPs was always preferable and the government’s decision to make the inclusion of the HCR voluntary during the initial stage is justified. It gives the industry and the consumer the ideal platform from which to experience an improved new way of buying and selling a property.”
Thomas Reeh, chief executive of blackandwhite.co.uk, said: “Simply HIP are obviously banking on HCRs being a part of our future, but the goalposts have been moved back by at least 18 months to two years. HIPs seem to be losing momentum week by week and the fact the government has withdrawn HCRs is ludicrous because the energy part of the report still needs to be done. But at the end of the day the forces of supply and demand will find a way round it.”
