Network Data Share Discussion Threads

[masurenguy] 08/5/2007 16:24

130407 - It would be a major embarassment for the government to suddenly dump HIPS at this late stage and they would also present the Tories with a great propaganda victory too, which they need like a hole in the head after last weeks local election reverses.

Whatever ones view about HIPS, it will be implemented. Probably the biggest risk is that they might defer implementation for a few months - perhaps to September - if they are convinced that there are not enough new 'Inspectors' ready to undertake the home energy efficiency surveys. The whole issue has really turned into a bag of worms since the core of the original HIPS concept (the property survey) was dropped after the lenders stated they would still require a Buyers survey to be undertaken.

[masurenguy] 08/5/2007 16:17

One Sell of 2,000 shares at 68p and the MMs mark it down to 58p ! That's what can happen with such a very illiquid stock such as this. The recent rise to 87p and the subsequent fallback to 60p were also based on very thin volumes.

MMs are now trading on the current anti- HIP media and political sentiment.

[130407] 08/5/2007 16:11

i think this is best avoided until the confusion around hips and the vote is taken

it represents good value if the vote is rejected and hips continues from 1.6.07

[1968jmw] 08/5/2007 16:05

Baroness Hanham to move that this House calls on Her Majesty's Government to revoke the Home Information Pack Regulations 2007 (SI 2007/992), to take account of the Report on the Regulations by the Merits of Statutory Instruments Committee and not to lay further regulations concerning Home Information Packs until after full consideration by the Government and Parliament of the pilot schemes and of the representations of stakeholders and consumers.

Business today in House of Lords

Has something been said and the price reflects????

[nurdin] 08/5/2007 15:39

Marked down 17% on a 2k visible trade! MMs here are the worst I have seen...

[chrisg] 08/5/2007 00:29

Oh, and although I do not generally respond to hypothetical remarks, NDH will most certainly NOT be "stuffed" if HIPs don't happen. They have a very strong existing core business which generates sufficient profit to pay a dividend, fully covered by earnings, even after writing off all the HIP development costs. These shares will be attractive even in a doomsday scenario. Just taking out the HIP development costs will produce profits of a multiple of last year's level! Actually, just taking out the HIPSTAR development costs would produce pre-tax profits of over SEVEN TIMES last year's levels, and that is without allowing for any growth at all in either of the existing two core businesses.

Of course, this is all theoretical, because HIPs will happen anyway.

[chrisg] 08/5/2007 00:07

johnsoho - precisely! And they aren't going to lose now, during a leadership election, of all times. As I said above, HIPs will happen.

[johnsoho] 07/5/2007 23:35

When was the last time this government lost a vote in the House of Commons?

[aerotus] 07/5/2007 23:03

Exactly - I can't believe the price went above 70p last Friday with such uncertainty. Bizarre.

[masurenguy] 07/5/2007 23:00

NDH would be stuffed if HIPS are abandoned at the last minute !

DAILY TELEGRAPH
Time to do homeowners a favour
By Philip Johnston
07/05/2007

The looming fiasco that is the Government's home information pack (HIP) will serve as a fitting memorial to Tony Blair's 10 years in office. It is pure, unadulterated, 24-carat New Labour - pointless, ill-conceived, spiteful, smug and incompetently delivered. There is now a huge kerfuffle going on about the imminent introduction of these bureaucratic monstrosities. With luck, they will be killed off before the first hapless seller has to fork out the best part of £750 for a document that will merely add to the burden and expense of moving home.

A vote is to be held in the Commons next week that could spell their end before they have even left the launch pad. But how did they get this far at all? They were originally a Labour manifesto promise in 1997. There was a perception that the house-sales system needed to be streamlined. But Labour, as it does all too often, chose instead the route of petty interference. Then -and here is another New Labour hallmark - it took six years of consultations, Green Papers, White Papers, pilot schemes (which showed that the HIPs were flawed) and draft legislation before the idea was brought to Parliament in the Housing Bill in 2004.

The media fulminations now in evidence about HIPs were strangely absent three years ago when it mattered most. Only in this newspaper was there a report of the Bill's second reading, during which the Tories, to their credit, opposed what we then called sellers' packs. This has been a characteristic of Mr Blair's time in office, especially during his first two Parliaments, when Labour had such huge majorities and the Tories were a busted flush. Controversial measures often made their way through Parliament with nary a raised word. Then, just as they were about to be implemented, the shouting began, by which time it was often too late.

The classic example of this was the Licensing Act, which reached the Statute Book in 2003 but was not enacted for two years. It was only when the date approached for the new opening hours and licensing regime that the backlash really began. The implementation of Budget decisions was routinely postponed and umpteen criminal justice measures have been introduced with a time-fuse attached, primed to go off months or even years later - or sometimes not at all. It is an odd way to govern.

The Government says that the HIPs were delayed to let the market get ready, which is a fair enough point. But ministers were told many times over the past three years that they would not work yet - here is another New Labour trait - they simply refused to listen. Anyway, what business is it of the state if two people wish to engage in a property deal? The Chancellor obviously has a fiscal interest, since he is creaming off a feloniously large tax chunk through stamp duty. But why should the seller have to compile an information pack containing search details that are needed anyway, with no guarantee that the home will be sold?

Each year, 600,000 properties placed on the market go unsold, rendering the pack information invalid unless it is re-marketed within a year. So, if the packs cost £600 each to prepare - the highest the Government expects - around £360m would be lost annually on abortive HIPs. The Government has even abandoned the original intention of the packs, which was to include a home-condition report - as though any buyer would rely upon a survey produced by the vendor. Now it is trying to give the scheme a spurious veneer of environmental legitimacy by insisting they contain information about energy-efficiency levels. This would require a visit from a so-called energy assessor, who would give the property an efficiency rating from A to G. How many people are going to buy a house on that basis, as opposed to its location, number of bedrooms or the size of the garden?

Yet Yvette Cooper, the minister responsible, even has the brass neck to denounce opponents of the scheme for being ''anti-green''. If you refuse to have one of these HIPs prepared, then you will be fined - yet another way in which perfectly law-abiding people can be criminalised as a result of this Government's actions. HIPs have been opposed all along by estate agents, though they are now looking to the marketing opportunities presented by including HIP preparation as part of the sales process. Consumer groups, whom the Government cited as supporters three years ago, have now turned against them. Even surveyors, previously the greatest champions of HIPs when it was intended they should contain a home-condition report, have given up on them, while a Lords committee recently said the scheme had faced more opposition than any other Government proposal they had reviewed.

Preparing the packs will slow down the sale process and make it more expensive, creating worry and red tape for estate agents and sellers at a time when rising interest rates could hit the housing market. The packs will also put an end to same-day sales or to speculative tests of the market. This interference is a serious matter for millions of owners who have a good deal of equity tied up in their homes, on which they will rely for survival in their dotage after Mr Brown stole their pensions.

How much has all this cost, both to the taxpayer and to those who trained to be surveyors, only to find the rug pulled from under them? Also, if the HIPs are now abolished, all those who have trained to be energy assessors will be out of pocket as well, though we now find out there are too few of them to do the job in any case. Instead of 7,500, there are only 2,000 - but until they get round to your house, you cannot sell it. The potential for frustration and stagnation is enormous.

Perhaps there is another, deeper, purpose. The HIPs might be a harbinger of additional taxes to be foisted on householders who have been slow to install energy-efficient light bulbs or enough lagging in the loft. This will penalise owners of older homes, or require them to spend thousands of pounds upgrading equipment like older boilers. If Gordon Brown has any sense, he will jettison the HIPs now before he takes over in No 10.

After the thumping Labour took at the polls last week, he needs all the friends he can get.

[chrisg] 06/5/2007 15:19

Yes, and with a built-in overall government majority of 62 in the Commons, there is hardly likely to be any doubt about the outcome, even though some Labour MP's may well vote against their own government. Make no mistake, HIPs will happen!

[androyd] 05/5/2007 19:52

"MP's are to vote on the future of HIP's on the 16th of May after the conservatives forced a debate on the issue".

[its the oxman] 01/5/2007 21:37

yep - nothing is certain but looks good for 100p plus if hips go through and they deliver

[tole] 01/5/2007 17:12

New update out on Edison - makes comment on this volatile trading in April - put down to thin trading volumes. Maintain 99p DCF- valuation Target Price.

They maintain forecasts and regard the rating as undemanding.

And mention of HIP-Day approaching - any chance of a last minute u-turn should by now have been shelved.

[its the oxman] 01/5/2007 11:57

gone tight 67-68 - last chance to buy sub 70p possibly

[tole] 01/5/2007 11:30

Home information packs under fire

Home Information Packs will become mandatory in June 2007
A House of Lords committee has described the opposition to the introduction of Home Information Packs (HIPs) as "striking" and "widespread".
From 1 June house sellers in England and Wales must have a HIP containing title deeds, local searches and an energy performance certificate.

Estate agency and legal bodies have told the government that they have not had enough time to prepare for HIPs.

The Committee said the government must take this criticism "seriously".

"The comments which we have received from key stakeholder organisations in the housing market are striking in the strength of their criticisms," Lord Filkin, chairman of the Lords Select Committee on the Merits of Statutory Instruments, said.

Many thought that dropping the requirement to have a survey would mean that the whole Hip project would be shelved

Q&A: Home Information Packs

"Such comment may not invalidate the purposes of the regulations, but we believe that the government need to take such criticism seriously and to do more if the market is to respond seriously."

He added that the Committee had "rarely seen such widespread opposition to proposals".

However, in response, Mike Ockenden, director general of the Association of Home Information Pack Providers said that the Committee had only spoken to opponents of the packs.

"They did not seek evidence from us or other bodies which are looking forward to the introduction of HIPs.

"This report is both slanted and jaundiced. It is very frustrating for those who want to see HIPs a success," Mr Ockenden said.

Criticism

Chief amongst the criticism raised by housing industry and legal bodies is that there are too few qualified people to assess property for their energy performance.

Critics argue this could lead to delays in producing HIPs.

In addition, it has been argued that the packs will be of little use to homebuyers.


PACKS WILL INCLUDE
Evidence of title
Copies of planning, listed building or building regulations consents
A local search
Guarantees for any work on the property
An energy performance certificate.
Last year, the government decided that HIPs would not have to contain a home condition report - a type of building survey.

But the government and groups representing HIP providers have said that the introduction of the packs will go ahead on 1 June and that there is no shortage of qualified people to assess energy performance.

The House of Lords Select Committee on the Merits of Statutory Instruments has been scrutinising the implementation of HIPs legislation over the past few weeks.

Previously, opposition parties have said that they would ask for a House of Lords debate on HIPs if the Committee's report proved to be critical.

[masurenguy] 01/5/2007 08:13

From The Times
May 1, 2007

Mortgage approvals fell by 12% in March
Gabriel Rozenberg, Economics Reporter

The underlying state of the housing market weakened further in March as buyers grew more wary of purchasing amid rising interest rates, banking data suggested yesterday. The number of new mortgage approvals for house purchase registered by leading British banks fell by 12 per cent in March compared with a year earlier, reinforcing the impression that the Bank of England's three interest-rate rises since August are taking their toll on the property market. It was the fourth consecutive month in which approvals have dropped, the figures from the British Bankers' Association showed. A total of 75,098 loans were taken out, at a value of £11.3 billion, compared with 85,098 loans a year ago.

Seema Shah, of Capital Economics, said that by adjusting the data for seasonal variations, the figures show the weakest approvals since mid-2005. Mortgage approvals are seen as a forward-looking indicator of the state of the property market. Current conditions remain robust, however, with Nationwide last week reporting that prices rose by 10.2 per cent in the year to April. The market is expected to weaken further following an interest-rate rise next week, seen as a certainty by City analysts.

Consumer confidence data released yesterday by GfK for the European Commission will encourage the Bank to press ahead with monetary tightening. Its gauge of optimism rose to minus 6, from minus 8, the strongest such figure for six months. The balance of comsumers who thought that now was a good time to make a big purchase rose and perceptions of the general economic situation improved.

[its the oxman] 30/4/2007 16:41

famous last words but surely a bounce is due now

[chrisg] 30/4/2007 16:39

Yes, it does rather look like that, doesn't it!

[nurdin] 30/4/2007 16:08

on the way up now... MMs mugged PI knowing they had a 25k buy order there

[its the oxman] 30/4/2007 15:25

57p bid - finding support perhaps

[aerotus] 30/4/2007 11:49

Not interested in NDH. Just passing by.

[130407] 30/4/2007 11:44

Aerotus

Didn't realise you were interested, i'm looking for an entry point, but think best to wait for the Lord's ruling and EDM in Parliament

[aerotus] 30/4/2007 11:39

Perfect symmetrical spike formation.