I need help with my HIP!

itsallaboutthemoney

Dear Moneysavers,

I'm looking to get a HIP done and it goes without saying that i want the cheapest one possible. I've been looking on the internet and am unsure if the cheap ones are government compliant- I don't want to spend the money only to find that it's not valid or something.

Does anyone know how to know whether these HIPs are government compliant or not, as there is a massive price difference with some of them ranging from 160 +vat all the way to 300 +vat. Bizarre if they're all working to the same governmental standards....

Any suggestions of ones you've used before and were happy with would be gratefully received

Doozergirl

I wouldn't care. No one reads them.

To be compliant they just need to contain certain documents - they're all standard forms. Some searches might be personal searches which will be cheaper than official searches which will be insurance backed and therefore accepted by mortgage lenders but seriously, no one reads them and even if you have an official search, your buyer's solicitor will request a brand new one any.

Buy whichever is cheapest.

I made my own. Had an official search carried out. Next time I will go down to the council office and fill out the forms myself and save another £80 or so.

itsallaboutthemoney

Hey doozegirl,

Thanks for your response, I don't understand what you mean by personal and official search.

bride_on_a_budget

Hi,

we paid £222 for our hip through myhomepack.com , it had all legal searches in. epc was done within 2 days and hip was completed in 8 days

i hope this helps
bride on a budget

Doozergirl

It's complicated but it doesn't really matter. If you have the Local search carried out by council officials, in my area it costs £95 - in some places it's £200!! That's an official search.

If you go down to the council and 'search' yourself and fill out the forms using available information it's a personal search and costs £11. Some companies employ agents that will carry out personal searches.

A personal search won't be accepted by a lender as it could contain errors and won't be backed by insurance if it does, whereas an official search would.

However, any search is only truly valid on the day it is carried out so most buyers solicitors will want new searches carried out - as most houses take time to sell, the searches are already out of date by the time an offer is received.

A search commissioned by a vendor could have been carried out just before they knew something that would affect the search happened - eg. applying for planning permission for a nightclub in the back garden. So that's another reason for the buyer having their own carried out.

So it doesn't make a blind bit of difference what you paid for the search, it's useless. Just buy the cheapest. An offical local search will make up the bulk of the cost of a HIP.

nordberg

Have you tried searching the forum? I posted this only 1 hour before you.

Doozergirl

nordberg wrote: »

Have you tried searching the forum? I posted this only 1 hour before you.

And?

THe OPs question regards the vast price difference between providers and whether price is an indication of quality. Your post doesn't answer that question.

If your provider is the one that the OP refers to that costs £160 + VAT then they might be using them now that they've had their own question answered.

nordberg

Doozergirl wrote: »

And?

THe OPs question regards the vast price difference between providers and whether price is an indication of quality. Your post doesn't answer that question.

If your provider is the one that the OP refers to that costs £160 + VAT then they might be using them now that they've had their own question answered.

I think my post does answer the question actually. It's the cheapest one out there and it's fully compliant otherwise it would not be recommended by MoneyFacts. What else is there to consider? Nothing. It either works or it doesn't and, as others have already said, go for the cheapest one that works.

I think you should drop the sarcy "And" type attitude as it does you no favours.

Davesnave

nordberg wrote: »

I think my post does answer the question actually. It's the cheapest one out there and it's fully compliant otherwise it would not be recommended by MoneyFacts. What else is there to consider? Nothing. It either works or it doesn't and, as others have already said, go for the cheapest one that works.

I think you should drop the sarcy "And" type attitude as it does you no favours.

I think you were the one being sarky, by suggesting that the OP had been remiss in not checking other posts on the Forum first. However, as Doozergirl says, (and she has a very fine track record of genuinely helpful advice) OP's question was about quality, not just price.

Sorry if you don't 'get' this or appreciate that your intervention on the thread seemed a tad accusatory.

Doozergirl

nordberg wrote: »

I think you should drop the sarcy "And" type attitude as it does you no favours.

The "and" type attitude is a direct response to your "Have you tried searching this forum" "type attitude". If you don't like the taste of your own medicine, I suggest you don't dish it out.

chartreuse_2

Doozergirl wrote: »

So it doesn't make a blind bit of difference what you paid for the search, it's useless. Just buy the cheapest. An offical local search will make up the bulk of the cost of a HIP.

This raises a question that I'm still not sure about. I've searched around and the consensus seems to be that Personal Searches are OK if backed by insurance. But, do they really need to be?

If nobody is bothering to read the HIPs and we're just going through the motions because HMG says we have to, why not do our own, paying for the EPC and using personal searches for the rest? It could get the cost down to around £100 and, if the buyers solicitor is going to get their own anyway, surely it'd be "no harm, no foul".