HIP to sell house in a stagnant market?

Richard_Webster wrote: »

I've had a couple of approaches recently where 3/4 bed houses have been continuously marketed since the magic dates in August/September 2007 and clients have wanted HIPs prepared to ease a sale...

The reasoning is that if it is clear that there is no HIP then a buyer will conclude that the property has been on the market a long time and might:
a) wonder what's wrong with it and/or
b) try to knock the price down a lot because of time on market.

So if costs a few hundred to do a HIP, better than losing several thousand on a price negotiation?

I'd be interested to see if anyone else has seen this.

We've seen this a few times Richard.

Example: While doing an EPC in Sheffield last week the vendor told me she was determined to get a good price on a property she found in Leeds because it didn't have a HIP. Her reasoning being that it had 3 bedrooms which meant it had been on the market since before September 10th 2007 and so there must be something wrong with it otherwise it would have sold by now. Ergo she now expects to persuade the vendor to reduce their asking price by between 15 and 30 grand.

On a related point we actually did a HIP for a non-legally required property in January for a vendor who couldn't proceed with the sale of their 4 bed property because their buyer didn't want to pay for the HIP documents. The property was HIP exempt as it was on the market from before August 1st.

For others reading this thread the magic dates are:

1st August - 4 bed properties require HIPs
10th September - 3 bed properties require HIPs
14th December - 1/2 bed properties require HIPs

The government has not announced a 'drop dead date' for when properties marketed before this date will need HIPs and there are no signs of them setting one. If you are in this situation beware of people telling you that you should have ordered your HIP back in January - this is incorrect. The drop dead date was January 1st but it was scrapped when they announced the phased roll out back before August.

p.s. Phirefly: 9 times out of 10 I have to explain what the advantage is of including optional documents in the HIP to vendors and even estate agents. The only people who consistently tell us they like to see the optional documents included are the recipients of the packs - the buyers solicitors. Its the buyers solicitors opinion of HIPs we listen to the most.

merlinthehappypig wrote: »

We've seen this too, Richard.

Several houses that we have previously viewed or noticed for sale have come back on Rightmove as 'new' with a HIP. In one case the agent had changed and I'm not sure what happens then anyway regarding a HIP. In the other cases the agents were the same.

We have seen dozens of other houses come back on Rightmove as 'new' without HIPS as well.

I gather its common for agents to 'poach' quite a few instructions from other agents at this time of year - new year, fresh start and all that. An agent would list a property as new if it was previously marketed with another agent and if there was no break in marketing no requirement for a HIP would be triggered which explains new listings with no HIPs.

As for re-listings of unsold properties with HIPs this time: if there is a break in marketing the requirement for a HIP is triggered so I would think many of the properties you've seen need HIPs rather than them being an option.

All this is assuming people are playing by the rules. If the agents who list the new arrivals without HIPs aren't bothering to check if a HIP is required/in place when they take over a property they had better hope trading standards don't notice as they are in breach of the HIP regs!