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As someone involved with conveyancing work for over thirty years, my experience was that Home Information Packs were rarely useful. They were often badly put together, by unqualified people and the information included was usually partial and incomplete, or out of date. HIPs seemed to be about capturing market share.

There are many reasons for the increasing delays in conveyancing. These include changes in the housing market, slower responses from managing agents, ESW1 requirements, the more complex identity and money laundering checks, less willingness to take a view over flaws in leases , the freehold rentcharge debacle, working from home, less experienced staff in law firms, delays at the Land Registry and with local authorities, changed attitudes on escalating ground rents , delays in obtaining leases extensions , overcomplicated schemes such as Help to Buy, and a generally more cautious approach to conveyancing.

All these issues require their own solution.

I was glad when HIPs were no longer required.