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Housing market boost in Richmond predicted after Hips are scrapped.

Hips are History .... This is the welcome news in Richmond that the controversial home information packs are to be abolished! The Government has announced the suspension of Home Information Packs with immediate effect from 21 May 2010. Richmond borough homeowners will no longer have to shell out upwards of £250 + VAT to provide the pack before they can put their house on the market. The packs which were welcomed by no-one were said to discourage people form putting their homes up for sale and were of no real benefit to house buyers.

Gillian Charlesworth, spokeswoman for the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), said: "Hips have failed to address the significant problems in the home buying process they were originally supposed to tackle, and RICS is pleased that one of the first acts of the new Government has been to clearly show their intention to abolish them."

Estate agents throughout the Richmond borough can also rejoice as an increase in new instructions from vendors is predicted. Additional concerns over a rise in capital gains tax could also prompt more property sales in the Richmond area.