They have been around for over three years and cost the best part of £300. No buyers ever seem to want to see them prior to purchase and they are not trusted by lenders. With an election coming up, would a new government be tempted to give up the ghost?
Rumours have been abounding that the idea's days are numbered and it is hard to imagine who would miss them. Even the people who spent a small fortune to be trained as HIP providers must be struggling to make a living wage in an increasingly crowded market and with long term prospects cloudy a lot of them must be wondering if it was worth it.

The Energy Performance Certificate, a major part of the HIP, and now legally mandatory for let properties, is at least here to stay. That is a result of EC rather than UK national legislation and any government would have little choice to continue with this. At least this seems to have some kind of point - to make people aware of the environmental as well as financial cost of a property's energy consumption. Although, to be quite honest no tenants or buyers ever seem to ask to see that either.

The only party to date to actually ask to see these documents are the local Trading Standards office, keen to see we are following the Law, and from this alone, we believe a conclusion can be drawn