Mark Glithero, managing director at Lexicon, told Mortgage Introducer the future implementation of HIPs rested on the success of the 2006 dry-run and the lack of details could prove disastrous.
He said: “There’s much work to be done before the dry-run and the clock is ticking. There’s bad press concerning HIPs because of the £1,000 estimated cost. If the government doesn’t counter this, it could become a bandwagon and damage the success of the dry-run, potentially preventing HIPs from happening.”
He added: “With Tony Blair expected to stand down and Gordon Brown stepping in, there could be a problem. If the dry-run is badly received, with an election coming up, will he continue the commitment to the initiative?”
“We already have each component up and running and the HIP will merely glue the components together. If they are shelved, it won’t matter too much as we already have our business. But companies set-up solely to manage HIPs could be in trouble.”
Marcus Cox, co-director of mysalespack.com, said: “Research conducted by both Which? and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister shows most buyers and sellers welcome these changes in principle so armchair critics should be looking at ways of ensuring proposals are delivered in the right way for the consumer and not wasting their energy on counter-spin.”
Dominic Toller, director of marketing and new business at LMS, said: “It very much depends on how successful the dry-run is. If there are significant advantages to HIPs the dry-run must illustrate them.
“Unless something terrible happens on the test run, I believe the government will remain committed to HIPs. The industry shouldn’t bury its head in the sand and spend all its time hoping it doesn’t happen.”
