The Government has been eager to find ways to improve the home buying process. In particular, the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) wants to shorten the time it takes to complete a home purchase and remove practices such as gazumping, which incur unnecessary costs and frustration for prospective buyers. It is estimated that £350 million is wasted each year on property sales which are agreed but then collapse.

The DCLGs solution to this problem is the introduction of Home Information Packs (HIPs). Plans to introduce HIPs were passed into law in November 2004 as part of the Housing Act, which makes the provision of a HIP mandatory for all residential property sales.