Response to alleged 'loopholes' in HIPS

dnwilliams · 12 July 2007 at 6:37PM

CLG's response to this alleged loophole today was this:

1. Define your bedroom as something else (e.g. a study)
2. Move the bed from the bedroom For the purposes of HIP duties, a four-bedroom home is one that is marketed as having four bedrooms. The average sale price for a four-bedroom home is around £120,000 more than that for the average three-bedroom home. Nobody would seriously suggest that people will want to devalue their property by that much for the sake of around £350 — costs which apart from a £100 EPC already exist in the homebuying and selling process.

However I've also heard this:

Trading standards will not be enforcing HIPs regulations on Estate agents or private homes sellers.
They have no real legislation to enforce.
Providing your home is advertised in Estate agents or private sale, as either 4 rooms upstairs in the case of a 4 bedroom home, or if you prefer 3 bedrooms plus study.

So by saying your house has 4 rooms upstairs you wont need a HIP and this wont devalue your home either?
Interesting, I see this all getting messy from 1st August!

lynzpower · 13 July 2007 at 8:16PM

in response to this I spoke to one of the top bods at the department for communities and local government yesterday and they confirmed that TS WILL be enforcing legislation but not in terms of the 3/4 bed issue ( more to do with redress for one)

they suggested light touch until "later in the year" when I reckon on there being much more proactive. the DCLG were very clear that TS will be enforcing, in tandem with guidance from the OFT.

thesaint · 13 July 2007 at 8:23PM

Less use of acronyms!

amcluesent · 13 July 2007 at 8:34PM

Call it three bed and a 'HIP room' - everyone will know what you mean

Altarf · 13 July 2007 at 8:47PM

amcluesent wrote: »

Call it three bed and a 'HIP room' - everyone will know what you mean

But will the estate agent agree to this?

Are they really going to agree to bend the rules when if a house is marketed without a HIP they are liable to a fine and according to the government HIP site "If the person is an estate agent, it also amounts to an “undesirable practice” for the purposes of section 3(1)(d) of the Estate Agents Act 1979, and would render them liable to action by the Office of Fair Trading. This could result in a banning order which would prevent them from continuing to trade (see section 175 of the 2004 Act)."

benood · 13 July 2007 at 9:34PM

lynzpower wrote: »

in response to this I spoke to one of the top bods at the department for communities and local government yesterday and they confirmed that TS WILL be enforcing legislation but not in terms of the 3/4 bed issue ( more to do with redress for one)

they suggested light touch until "later in the year" when I reckon on there being much more proactive. the DCLG were very clear that TS will be enforcing, in tandem with guidance from the OFT.

Is a top bod at the DCLG really going to say "don't bother with HIPS they're a mess and we won't be enforcing them"?

We won't know for sure that they won't be enforced until after 1 August, but they're my top bet for the chop since the Super Casino was dropped.

Snow_Dog · 13 July 2007 at 10:35PM

Fingers crossed they drop the olympics going at this rate

Response to alleged 'loopholes' in HIPS

Comments

Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply

🚀 Getting Started

Categories

Is this how you want to be seen?

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free