Carsberg defends call to make HIPs voluntary

Sir Bryan Carsberg has refuted accusations of towing the party line of the industry’s trade bodies by recommending that Home Information Packs be made voluntary in his review of the residential property market.

Neil Parsons, chairman of agency network Team, said he welcomed much of the review but added that it may have sacrificed some credibility by joining the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and National Association of Estate Agents in calling for mandatory HIPs to be scrapped.

But speaking exclusively to The Negotiator, Carsberg said: “It is not a matter of following the party line at all. In a strange kind of way, I tried to give HIPs a fair wind because of their background.

“I do give credit for some of the work the Association of Home Information Packs has done, including the setting up of good practices in terms of selfregulation. But the fundamental point is that I think people should be free to choose how they sell their properties; I think people should work through the market being well-informed.”

In his review, The Carsberg Review of Residential Property: Standards, Regulation, Redress and Competition in the 21st Century, which was published last week, Carsberg cites reduced content, pricing and a lack of buyer interest as the factors underlying his call for HIPs to be made voluntary.

But he provided a glimmer of hope for the search industry by calling for legislation to require holders of search information to provide the information rapidly and efficiently to all members requesting it, at a reasonable price.

Also in his review, Carsberg claims that one of the key problems with the house buying and selling process is consumers’ ignorance about agents’ qualifications and service expectations, hence his call for them to be well-informed. He recommends that a new regulatory body be created to enforce a regulatory regime for agents, designed to educate consumers about the home buying and selling process. Carsberg expects an entry requirement for agents, code of best practice and the provision of access to independent redress for consumers.

He also proposes the transferral of the enforcement powers of the Office of Fair Trading to the body.

Single framework

Carsberg recommends a single framework for redress, which he says he expects the industry to create. The proposal follows the launch of a new standards board by RICS and the NAEA, as reported in The Negotiator on May 30.

Carsberg welcomes the board, due to its appointment of an independent chairman, but says it needs a regulatory arm, to fit the model he envisages.

“I don’t really want a standards board to regulate, so it will need to have a parallel regulatory arm, which would require agents to comply with the standards.”

He adds that he expects the appointed board to create a Kitemark scheme to signify the professionalism of agents.

Gillian Charlesworth, director of external affairs at RICS, says: “Sir Bryan’s approach is a regulatory approach. We want a standards setting board and to continue to regulate our own members.

“But this is fine. It is possible that the standards body might adopt a role in regulation – we are not closing the door to that.”

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