How Long does a HIP last ?

plzsm

we have had our house on the market for 6 months and havent sold despite price dropping. Anyway we are going overseas for 3 months with work and planned to take the house off the market during this time and put it back on again in Jan. However the estate agent say this will make our HIP invalid and we will need to spend another £300 to put it back on the market again in Jan ? is this correct ? seems like a scam. They said some of the searches are out of date anyway now and will need to be paid for again ?

minxtress

Seems to be true, my house is on the market and the HIP effectively lasts a year, but taking it off themarket then back on is effectively cancelling the agreement so would need a whole new one.
I agree they are a complete rip off, my estate agent told me he hasnt had one person ask to see a HIP for a property yet.

plzsm

thats mad
i dont object to having it done, but only once surely
is it possible to put a house on the market and then get the hip done if you get an offer ? or is the Hip a legal requirement of putting on the market ?

miggiwoo

plzsm wrote: »

thats mad
i dont object to having it done, but only once surely
is it possible to put a house on the market and then get the hip done if you get an offer ? or is the Hip a legal requirement of putting on the market ?

HIP ?

should be called RIP !

THink it really is a big con , hopefully we are about to exchange on the sale of our house.Interesting to find out they only last a Year and if you take youre property off the market for a while , it needs another one.

Marc1978

Following information is useful.

http://www.homeinformationpacks.gov.uk/consumer/63_How_long_does_a_Pack_last_for.html

Lasts as long as property is on the market - with a couple of exceptions enabling the property to be off the market and then back on without producing a new HIP.

markandjayne

Hi
I am not an expert so please take your own view
I have considered this as we are on the market (with very little interest), have sourced our own HIP and are thinking about cancelling our EA for a while.
I think the key aspect of the rules is that the HIP is valid as long as the property is marketed.
It seems to me there are lots of ways of marketing a property - an ad in the local supermarket for sale board, a sign outside your house, on your own web page ... - does anyone more informed than me know if there is a definition of 'marketed'?
So perhaps you could think about one of these ways to ensure your house remains marketed for the period you are away, keeping your HIP valid.
It is true that searches get out of date but I dont think you necessarily have to redo them - lots of buyers solicitors do them anyway, regardless of the HIP searches.
good luck

Rossco

If the HIP is valid for as long as the property is on the market I'm wondering if you could list your house on a fee free house sale website at a price you know would generate no interest and take it off the market with your current agent. When you are ready to re-market in theory the HIP would then be valid if you listed with a local estate agent at a later date.

I'm sure there is probably something wrong with this.

Ross.

eanie_meanie

Hi
Not sure about the validity of the hip itself but there was an item on radio 4 a few months ago about the searches. From what I remember it was saying that there isn't a definitive timescale as to how long a search is valid for and is left to the buyers solicitor - if they feel that too long has elapsed from being produced to the house being sold they will ask for new searches.

The only other bit of the hip (that you can't do yourself) really is the energy efficiency report - which is a bit of a joke imho. I understand that the energy report that landlords will have to get from 1st oct will be valid for something like 10yrs!

The government link quoted earlier is a good source.

Good luck...

Jorgan_2

eanie_meanie wrote: »

I understand that the energy report that landlords will have to get from 1st oct will be valid for something like 10yrs!

Yeo the EPC for a rental is valid for 10 years whilst on a residential sale property it has just been increaed from 1 to 3 years. Figure that one out.