CityWire runs a nice four-page summary of the situation so far. It quotes CML figures that show only 17% of owner-occupied homes fall into the four-bedrooms-or-more bracket that will require a HIP from August 1. (I wonder how this 17% is represented in the actual market... whether these properties change hands as often as smaller ones... my hunch is that they don't.) CityWire also quotes Rightmove's Miles Shipside thus:

The delay will be galling for thousands of sellers who have now pointlessly rushed to beat the 1 June deadline, and doubly galling for those in the industry who have invested thousands in preparing to meet it.

And Miles Shipside should know. Presumably he's still smarting over the memory of watching Rightmove's share price tumble last July, after a similar HIPs u-turn cost the company dear. Anorak - under the headline Hip Hip Hooray (not to be confused with Hip Hip Hooray) - points to another layer of scam enabled by the announcement. If there was debate, previously, about the meaning of the word "marketed", make way for a whole new battle over "four" and "bedroom":

Wily estate agents and house sellers could try to escape the £300-£600 cost of a HIP by categorising their fourth bedroom as a study or a boxroom or maybe even a transcendental meditation space, thus adding more chaos to the situation.

A wily estate agent? Don't be stupid. The Guardian meanwhile dismisses yesterday's Polly Toynbee column with a scathing leader rubbishing HIps and Ruth Kelly. And why not?

Like a pupil with late homework, her explanations multiplied and got more complex as she went along. First there was a judicial review that had been lodged by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors. Yet she admitted she had known about the judge's order since last Thursday. Why not come to the Commons sooner? No answer. Then Ms Kelly admitted there were not enough fully certified assessors to provide the energy performance certificates that are a core part of the packs. The shortage, in fact, amounts to just under 2,000 assessors. Ms Kelly would have known of this bottleneck long ago. Why wait until now? No answer.

Meanwhile the Daily Express reveals that Ruth Kelly is now involved in a fresh row with the RICS regarding its judicial review. She claims the RICS agreed to drop the legal action if Kelly humiliated herself in front of the Commons. Kelly kept her side of the bargain, but the RICS remembers the agreement differently. Here's RICS housing spokesman Jeremy Leaf:

“We only agreed to the stay of the Judicial Review on the following terms – that the Government provide a 12-week consultation period on EPCs, that the Government publish a Regulatory Impact Assess ment, including a full cost-benefit analysis, and that our legal costs are paid. We will be examining the new proposals in detail and will continue to work in the public interest on home-buying reform and climate change.”

The Times wonders whether the whole HIPs scheme - after ten years in development (don't you wish you were paid by the Government?) - will be flushed down the toilet as soon as Gordon Brown takes over. It also makes a potential celebrity of one Lydia Edwards... apparently the one inspector listed for London by the Department for Communities and Local Government website.

The stories and angles will continue to dribble in throughout the day. But the Rat and Mouse would like to take this opportunity to offer Kelly it's special chutzpah award for this:

Miss Kelly claimed her decision "gives clarity to everyone about the next steps" and "removes uncertainty".

Here's a Government that actually believes that simply saying something makes it true.

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