unfinished HIP

Addy1 wrote: »

Does it reduce legal fees for the buyer?

If the buyer is doing their own conveyancing yes it does. If the buyer is not doing their own conveyancing it will save their solicitor some £. As to whether the solicitor's fees then go down by passing the cost saving onto the buyer is another question :rotfl:

Try it! Ask for a discount because a HIP is available. I'd be interested to know if any say yes. I don't fancy your chances though

I'm going to play Devil's Advocate here and not simply "have a go" for the sake of it. I'm a seller and a potential buyer at the mo ...

chriserenity wrote: »

Well, I can't speak for the legal profession but I can tell you that the HIPs I've produced have all been accepted and used by the buyers chosen solicitor.

How do you know? Would you know if the solicitor ran new searches or got the title deeds again?

Similarly, the feedback we receive is the lender is happy to accept the search on face value because:

1. Its exactly the same search that would be done on a property if no HIP were present.

In certain situations, the search wouldn't be the same. If something occurred after the first search e.g. planning permission granted for a new road, then this would be on the second search but not the first.

Good solicitors will do searches before exchange and again before completion, in case there are "new" issues that crop up in between.

2. The lender is indemnified against any loss resulting from potential information coming to light in the period between when the search was done and when the search is actually used.

Although the lender's concerns are generally less than those of many buyers.

Do you mean information provided by the seller? If so the information isn't provided by the seller! Look, I'll give you an example. I until recently worked with a search agent who's been doing searches for about four years. Instead of 95% of his business coming from the buyers solicitor, it now nearly all comes from HIP providers. The vendor has no opportunity to 'doctor' the contents. Similarly with the EPC neither the buyer nor the seller can produce this - its independently produced by an energy assessor. Energy Assessors belong to a regulated industry requiring licenses, exams, quality checking etc etc - much more regulated than the estate agency industry I might add.

In any case, good HIP providers make their HIPs available online with no opportunity for the seller to tamper with the documents - goes online and is downloaded by the buyers solicitor for use.

Agreed. We wanted to add the PP and building control sign off to our HIP, together with a comment about the easements we have (right of access and shared private drainage) but the HIP provider wouldn't allow it!!!!

I can see their point, as they're responsible for it, but I would have thought they could have added "Seller's Comments" with a caveat, but no!

Quote:
Originally Posted by elastic_trickery
I would still like to know if the buyers solicitors in general are taking any notice of what's in the HIP.

I suspect that the money lenders would insist on "fresh" independant searches and surveys being done.

I know if I was buying for cash that is certainly the instruction I would be giving my solicitor. I wouldn't trust the information provided by the buyer!

Well, I can't speak for the legal profession but I can tell you that the HIPs I've produced have all been accepted and used by the buyers chosen solicitor. Similarly, the feedback we receive is the lender is happy to accept the search on face value because:

1. Its exactly the same search that would be done on a property if no HIP were present.
2. The lender is indemnified against any loss resulting from potential information coming to light in the period between when the search was done and when the search is actually used.

Do you mean information provided by the seller? If so the information isn't provided by the seller! Look, I'll give you an example. I until recently worked with a search agent who's been doing searches for about four years. Instead of 95% of his business coming from the buyers solicitor, it now nearly all comes from HIP providers. The vendor has no opportunity to 'doctor' the contents. Similarly with the EPC neither the buyer nor the seller can produce this - its independently produced by an energy assessor. Energy Assessors belong to a regulated industry requiring licenses, exams, quality checking etc etc - much more regulated than the estate agency industry I might add.

In any case, good HIP providers make their HIPs available online with no opportunity for the seller to tamper with the documents - goes online and is downloaded by the buyers solicitor for use.

I agree.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Addy1
Does it reduce legal fees for the buyer?

It depends by what you mean by legal fees. Your solicitor would still have to check the contents of the HIP and possibley raise any enquiries on the information contained within it. The charge for this will usually be covered in the conveyancing quote. There could be a saving relating to the cost of the searches, as long as the your lender accepts the searches in the HIP.

I again agree. Usually the lender will accept the searches, but they might be out of date and then may either have to be repeated or validation insuracne purchased.

Debt_Free_Chick wrote: »

I'm going to play Devil's Advocate here and not simply "have a go" for the sake of it. I'm a seller and a potential buyer at the mo

How do you know? Would you know if the solicitor ran new searches or got the title deeds again?

No I wouldn't know as a matter of course but I make a point of getting feedback from the pack users so. Of the packs I have compiled the contents have all been accepted by the relevant parties.

Debt_Free_Chick wrote: »

In certain situations, the search wouldn't be the same. If something occurred after the first search e.g. planning permission granted for a new road, then this would be on the second search but not the first.

The search should indemnify the person who relies on the information contained within it against losses arising from situations like the one you described. Technically the search is out of date the minute the search is complete but as Richard says most solicitors are prepared to accept the search if it is not over a certain age.

HIP providers have the power to vary the basic formula of the HIP to an extent e.g. add extra documents in/make sure the quality of the documents are good enough but we can't for example ask for an estimated '2 weeks from completion' heads up from the seller or any other party and use that as a cue to initiate the search. It would be against the regs set by the government.

Debt_Free_Chick wrote: »

Good solicitors will do searches before exchange and again before completion, in case there are "new" issues that crop up in between.

If the solicitor feels compelled to do this it is up to them.

Debt_Free_Chick wrote: »

Agreed. We wanted to add the PP and building control sign off to our HIP, together with a comment about the easements we have (right of access and shared private drainage) but the HIP provider wouldn't allow it!!!!

I can see their point, as they're responsible for it, but I would have thought they could have added "Seller's Comments" with a caveat, but no!

Why wouldn't they allow it? You can put this info in - the home use form has space for comments about the services connected to the property and rights of access too. This form is meant to be filled out by the vendor for the benefit of the buyer('s solicitor). Also, if the documents are relevant e.g. Building control docs I think its fine to include them as 'authorised' documents at the back of the HIP. This stuff doesn't cost the PP any extra £ to put in apart from labour and paper but as far as I can see quite a few don't really care as long as the thing is legally compliant.

This goes back to what I was saying before - the HIP has a standard basic structure but there is some room to add information like the examples you suggested. Thats the difference between a quality HIP and a 'legally compliant' (but not much use) HIP.