More homeowners to exploit Hips loophole

Yet more homeowners are now planning to take advantage of a loophole in the system of Home Information Packs (Hips), according to a mortgage company’s new report.

Following the recent expansion of Hips to apply to three-bedroom homes, Abbey says some homeowners are now preparing to disguise their third bedrooms to avoid purchasing one of the packs.

The news comes after another Abbey survey last month revealed that an estimated 4.5 million people with four-bedroom homes would consider renaming a fourth bedroom a study, playroom or TV room among others, in order to save money.

New figures suggest that over four million will now carry out the same ploy, scaling a three- bedroom house to a two bedroom property, with some imaginative thinking.

Experts are advising that the false declaration of bedrooms in a property could affect its value in the long run.

"By remarketing your home as a two-bedroom house with a study, you’ll become invisible to thousands of potential buyers that are searching online, specifically, for three or four bedrooms and above," explained Nici Audhlam-Gardiner, Abbey’s head of mortgages.