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Estate Agent asking for Copy of Homebuyers Survey
Comments
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Regarding the contractors, the vendor may not have given permission for their phone number to be given out, hence the reason they have to go via the EA.
Its all straightforward common sense, but because there is an EA involved, some people feel there must be a hidden agenda.
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Having been on both sides of this issue I can see the argument from both points of view.
When we last sold a couple of minor issues came up in the survey. I certainly wouldn't have been prepared to drop the price on the buyers say so. We saw the survey, got our own quotes and agreed a small drop in price - no-where near the cost quoted in the survey, by the way.
Having just forked out £815 for a structural survey on the place we are buying I'd be reluctant to let someone see it for free!
I think the middle ground suggested by others is the right approach and that means photocopying the relevant bits.0 -
surely the ea will have to put themselevs out to let people into the proprety to suss out the problem, also clear it with the owners. also any attempt to prove a problem will be used as a bargining tool in price negociations and therefore ea will need to be aware of this to talk to vendor and work with adjustments in price to problems that may need sorting.Dogs return to eat their vomit, just as fools repeat their foolishness. There is no more hope for a fool than for someone who says, "i am really clever!"0
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This is perfectly normal. Is the property vacant? If so, this is the reason the agent has to be involved for the purposes of access, as they probably hold the keys.
An agent cannot use the homebuyers report for his own gain - what benefit exactly can he get? He needs to see evidence of issues with the survey so that he can check you're not just some soul trying his luck, and that there genuinely is cause to obtain quotes.
As regards charging for hips packs, I understand that this is common practice in a number of estate agents offices, however, I have had to stop estate agents selling the hips for repossessions, because the bank/building society has paid for them in the first instance.DFW #414, MoneySaver, Income Booster
It Always Seems Impossible Until It Is Done.
£2,022 in 2022 #39 - Current total £2.900 -
Nonsense.I second that. They work for the Vendor, not you. Actually, they work for themselves and would use your survey to their own advantage (not yours).
They do work for the vendor, that bit is correct, but it is in the agents interest to get this person to buy the property, otherwise regardless of who they work for, they won't be getting paid. And no, they cannot use the purchaser's homebuyers report to their own advantage.DFW #414, MoneySaver, Income Booster
It Always Seems Impossible Until It Is Done.
£2,022 in 2022 #39 - Current total £2.900 -
Do you have solid evidence of this? How much are they typically charging? I have a meeting with the OFT next week and this is a topic they will raise. The HIP is normally commissioned by the vendor and the Agent does not 'own' it to sell it. They can make copies for a 'reasonable' fee, but then again so can the vendor if it's their HIP.KellsBells wrote: »As regards charging for hips packs, I understand that this is common practice in a number of estate agents offices
Shame OP never came back with a reply to my question about who 'owned', commissioned or paid for the HIP.0 -
Shame OP never came back with a reply to my question about who 'owned', commissioned or paid for the HIP.
Hi All,
Thank you for all of your responses. Yes to answer questions the estate agent said he will charge for copy of HIP pack but did not say how much. The HIP had been commisioned by the vendors. Reading all of your posts I am not sure what to be expecting from the HIP pack.
My solicitors have said that the agent had only forwarded them the searches part of the HIP as the EA stated that the link to the full HIP pack online was not working....
I am waiting for the balance of the information...0 -
I forgot the bit about the cost of a HIP...
I work for an EA and it costs a fortune for a hard copy of the HIP, we just keep ours online and if a customer wants to view it they can sit in the office and view it. A Hard copy costs us approx £100 and that is bound in a book style. We will print off specific pages tho if the customer just wants a particular extract.0 -
FYi All,
Had the balance of the HIP forwarded to me by my solicitors in the end instead of going through estate agent.
It contains details of land registry and energy efficiency notes. Nothing of major sigificance. The copy is so bad it is hard to read parts.0 -
When I bought my first house, over 35 years ago! I paid for a full survey, as then I knew virtually nothing about a house's structure and its utilities.
I surveyed the surveyor as he did the job and learned tricks such as looking along the drains with mirrors, I also got the benefit of his personal opinion, rather than the cut and paste boilerplate text from his typist.
When I came to sell the place two years later I prepared the equivalent of a hip, all be it some was 24 months out of date and handed it out to potential purchasers. Where I could I "updated" things with latest utility prices and margin comments.
The surveyors report ...........fence posts rotting, will require spurs or replacements ....and they still are annotation went down rather well and earned brownie points for honesty.0
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