Several home information pack (HIP) providers are likely to follow the lead of property Web site company Rightmove and withdraw from the market, leaving solicitors to remain at the heart of the conveyancing process, it has been claimed.


Rightmove announced last week it would be discontinuing its initiative to provide HIPs following the government's decision to make the home condition report a voluntary element of the new home sellers' packs.



It had planned to spend £22 million on developing its HIPs solution, of which £7 million has already been spent. It anticipates that exit costs will not exceed £1.2 million.



Paul Creffield, managing director of Rightmove HIPs, said: 'Our investment was geared to produce a consumer-facing document, but with the change in emphasis, we no longer felt our proposition was appropriate.'



He anticipated that with the raised HIP, those already providing conveyancing services would seek to do deals with local estate agents, for whom they would provide the packs. HIPs will now only have to contain legal documentation and an energy performance certificate.



Denis Cameron, a member of the Law Society's HIPs task force, said it would not just be Rightmove that would pull out of the market; he predicted that some of the other larger pack providers would follow suit.



'If the half-HIP does happen, there are more opportunities for solicitors to be involved in what will be a slightly less competitive market - agents are already calling the half-HIP the "legal pack,"' he added.



Catherine Baksi