The Government should improve or scrap useless Home Improvement Packs - and compensate sellers forced to pay for them, Lib Dem housing spokesman Lembit Opik said yesterday.
Speaking before a meeting in Birmingham, the Montgomeryshire MP said Government data showed HIPs had not made an appreciable difference, with a majority of buyers unaware they existed.
"My advice to the Government is shape up or ship out," said Mr Opik. "And if they ship them out they need to compensate the people who have already lost out.
"The Government is silent because they've done a bit of a boo boo by introducing something that doesn't work. Either HIPs have to be improved or I suspect they will die. They are so ineffective they are unenforceable."
Mr Opik was speaking before a meeting of the German-British Chamber in the Midlands at the Hyatt Regency Hotel.
The unpopular HIPs came under fire a week ago after Government research showed 60 per cent of homebuyers had not even seen the packs when buying a new home.
And 10 per cent had not got their packs in time to make a difference to buying.
