To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, in the light of current housing market conditions, they will abandon the requirement to provide home information packs.

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper. In doing so, I declare an interest as I own a small number of farm cottages.

My Lords, the current problems facing the housing market were caused not by HIPs but by the global economic downturn. Independent research undertaken by Europe Economics found no evidence of any impact by HIPs on transactions or prices.

My Lords, for a decade the Government flooded society with regulations on the assumption that the good times would continue, and HIPs are of course a classic. Seventy-four per cent of the people who buy houses—these are the Government's figures—take no notice of home information packs in their purchase deal and it is an inhibiting factor from the point of view of the vendor. However, the real question that I wish to ask is as follows. There are a number of factors in secondary legislation brought in by this Government which cumulatively are making it more difficult for the general economy to recover. Will the Minister ask her colleagues in government to commit themselves to a general review of secondary legislation so that any inhibiting factors which are discovered—I am sure that there are plenty of others—might be removed?

My Lords, I am sure the noble Lord will know that we are committed to an ambitious agenda of regulatory reform, cutting down unnecessary costs and improving the cost-effectiveness of new regulation. We have to do that while keeping essential protections for employees and employers. Abandoning the forthcoming changes on HIPs, which are intended to consolidate the regulations and provide industry with certainty and stability, would not help that process. I am delighted to say that, despite the current difficulties facing the housing market, a recent survey of 16,000 transactions by a leading estate agent, Connells, showed that, where a HIP was available, exchanges were completed on average six days quicker.

My Lords, I declare an interest in that I am trying to sell a house. I can give the address to anyone who wants it. I bought a HIP last year and I have to buy another one. I simply say to my noble friend that of course it makes no difference to the housing market and of course on some occasions HIPs are useful but there are times when a HIP is simply an additional price that one has to pay to sell a house.

As I indicated, my Lords, we have seen some definite benefits from HIPs in terms of speed. The regulations we introduced in December will require sellers to provide a property information questionnaire that will include simple, basic information on matters such as electrical safety which one often does not remember to ask about when looking at a house. On the specific problems, I am happy to act as an estate agent for my noble friend. I can tell him that HIPs are valid for as long as the house stays on the market but that if it is removed, a new HIP will have to be done after 12 months. Even if the sale falls through after a year the seller can go back on the market with the original HIP as long as the marketing starts again within 28 days. So it effectively has a shelf life of a year.

My Lords, I am sure the Minister will remember whether she took part in our debates in drawing up the legislation on HIPs. It was said then that HIPs might be very good in a rising market but not very good in a falling market where people were having difficulty in selling. Unfortunately HIPs have not helped anyone and people are generally in disfavour of them because they feel that they are of no benefit. What can be done to reduce the extra burden placed on those wishing to sell now? It is all very well to have a HIP but, as has been said, they last for only a certain time. On the other hand, if it is more than three months old, it will rarely be accepted by a building society, bank or another solicitor and they will require it to be updated. What can be done about that? HIPs are not effective if they are not effective for the duration.

My Lords, as I said, they have a shelf life of a year. I agree with the noble Baroness that people need to see the HIPs. One of the things that has not succeeded is that estate agents have not been ensuring that the buyers, or the sellers, see the HIP. We have changed the regulations and removed the concession on first-day marketing so that from 6 April people will need to have a HIP when they put their house on the market. That will help the buyer and the seller to know that the HIP is in place and what it delivers. We should also remember that well over 2 million energy performance certificates have been issued through HIPs, all of which can save on costs. We have also seen a drop in the cost of searches of between £30 and £120. So, there are definite benefits to HIPs.

My Lords, the Minister's departmental website, which I trawled yesterday looking for evidence and research on HIPs, does not show any recent research. I could not find the reference to the independent research that she mentioned. The website did tell me that I could subscribe to Ministers' "twittering" but that is not entirely helpful in this context. The Government cite the need for an evidence base. What evidence do they have on the effect of requiring a HIP from the first day of marketing, a change to be introduced at the beginning of April, as she mentioned? What difference will that make?

My Lords, over the past year we have been working closely with the industry. The package that we brought forward in December is looking at different forms of simplification and working parties. I can send the noble Baroness a collection of evidence that we have gathered and put forward, but essentially it is counterfactual evidence because the HIPs were not being seen and we were told not least by estate agents and consumer organisations that it was important for buyers and sellers to be able to handle the HIP to make sure that they knew what they were getting for their money and what information it contained.