The Association of Home Information Pack Providers is set to begin a regional roll-out of Hips in a confident move intended to prove their worth.

The association says it is committed to the future success of Home Information Packs (Hips) despite the recent controversy surrounding them and in particular the Home Condition Report.

They and its members are in the final stages of planning a regional roll out which will commence in quarter four this year. The objective of the roll out will be to demonstrate the benefits to buyers and sellers of the Hip including the voluntary Home Condition Report which relies on government enabling the licensing of qualified Home Inspectors, ahead of the mandatory date next June.

Mike Ockenden, director general of AHIPP said: "We have identified with our members a number of locations across the country where we plan to implement voluntary Hips later this year. This roll out is vital to the future success of Hips and will enable us to identify any initial glitches that need to be ironed out ahead of the mandatory introduction next June."

"The pressure is now on the government to confirm their support and to push through the licensing of qualified home inspectors to enable a fair testing of the voluntary take up of Home Condition Reports."

"Hips, and in particular the HCR are both great news for the consumer and we are convinced that the roll out will reinforce this and generate consumer demand."

"Despite the premature and inaccurate claims made by the Conservative Party and other critics of the scheme over the last few weeks, Hips have not gone away. On the contrary, we aim to prove that there will be a strong demand for the Hip and the HCR from both buyers and sellers – the Hip is here to stay."

AHIPP plans to announce the six locations where their initial roll out will take place, along with the official launch date later this week.