cant see the HIP for new house

SuperSaverSue_2

Just spoke to halifax and they say they cant send out a hip, it can only be viewed at the office. Now we live 200 miles from the office so cant really go nip down there!! I doubt we're gonna be able to get there until we actually complete and I think its a bit unfair, the woman on the phone wasnt very helpful.

Should we still buy house if not seen HIP?

poppysarah

Ask someone to read it out to you.

Why are they so tight with photocopies and emails?

chickmug

SuperSaverSue wrote: »

Just spoke to halifax and they say they cant send out a hip, it can only be viewed at the office. Now we live 200 miles from the office so cant really go nip down there!! I doubt we're gonna be able to get there until we actually complete and I think its a bit unfair, the woman on the phone wasnt very helpful.

Should we still buy house if not seen HIP?

The EA must be prepared to send out a copy of the HIP by post but is entitled to make a charge. Hips can be 50-100+ pages so even a nominal charge for one with colour in is known to be from a few quid to £25. They must send out one by email, if requested, and for which they are not allowed to make a charge. The woman, on the phone, does not know what she is doing.

chickmug

poppysarah wrote: »

Ask someone to read it out to you.

Why are they so tight with photocopies and emails?

Dependent on the exact HIP could be a very very long conversation.:D

SuperSaverSue_2

They wont send one out or email me so have contacted HIP people, hopefully halifax will get in trouble for not sending me one!!! I'm at the end of my tether with them, they've done nothing but annoy me these past few months, cant wait to see the back of halifax.

Thanks everyone x

ginvzt

We had this. EA said they can't send us a copy of HIP as it is very bulky. In the end we found out that HIP didn't exist. When first asked they claimed house has been on the market since March this year, but when pressed they told that it was initially with another agent since before HIP became compulsory.

chickmug

SuperSaverSue wrote: »

They wont send one out or email me so have contacted HIP people, hopefully halifax will get in trouble for not sending me one!!! I'm at the end of my tether with them, they've done nothing but annoy me these past few months, cant wait to see the back of halifax.

Thanks everyone x

I really think you should press the EA, threaten to complain about them. Take a look at this link which is the goverment one. Below is some of the information contained.

Also why not send the sellers a note saying how unhelpful their EA has been to you.

http://www.homeinformationpacks.gov.uk/consumer/52_How_much_will_it_cost_me.html

How much will it cost me?

If you're a buyer, nothing: you'll get a copy of the Home Information Pack free on any property you're interested in. However, a reasonable charge may be made for copying and posting the pack.
With Home Information Packs, the overall costs of buying and selling a home will be similar to the costs before the introduction of the Packs, but will be spread more evenly between buyers and sellers.
The Energy Performance Certificate is a compulsory part of the Pack, and is paid for by the seller.

Richard_Webster

Worth sellers who are having HIPs prepared asking what format they will be in. Some buyers may want to see a hard copy but a lot of people these days will be happy with a PDF e-mailed to them, or even better, a link to a web page where the individual elements can be downloaded.

It is a pain for me as a buyer's solicitor to get a hard copy of a HIP as I have to scan it in and it then becomes an enormous 6Mb PDF whereas the parts downloaded are much smaller on their own as electronic copies.

So sellers may want to ask if the HIP can be viewed on the web. That's what I do with HIPS I prepare and I am a one man band -if I can do it I can't see why the likes of Halifax cannot do so. We give the link to the estate agents and leave it up to them what they do with it. If they want to charge a reasonable fee for printing out a hard copy then I don't care.