Buyer's right to view HIP

jamiecreek

There's quite a few discussions about HIPs here already, so I apologise for treading over old threads..

I was viewing a property yesterday, and the vendor's estate agents told us that they would not allow us to view the HIP until we had an offer accepted.

Surely the purpose of the HIP, Home Information Pack, is for the prospective buyer to garner a small amount of extra information on the property, BEFORE deciding if they wish to pursue the property??

I explained that I'd seen plenty of HIPs without making any offers, and that I would not make any offers without seeing that one, and they just said, so be it.

Some of the info is very useful, especially if buying Leasehold, as its mandatory to include a copy of the lease agreement. So far I've seen several interesting conditions, such as, no playing grand piano between the hours of 11pm and 6am, and dogs, birds, or other pets with a potential to cause nuisance are not allowed in this building. When I'd asked the agent about pets they said it was fine. Also, one report informed us of abnormally high Radon levels, above the action level, which has put us off slightly.

I'm pretty sure I'm within my rights to view any HIP for properties that interest me, and I'd strongly advise others to do so too.. Sod any agents who refuse.

Oh, as for the searches not being 'valid', I asked my solicitor about that and apparently Searches have a 3month expiry period, so if the property has been on longer than that, its highly likely they will need to redo them.

poppysarah

You might infer they've not got one.

Who monitors and fines them for not having one?

Evee2000

poppysarah wrote: »

You might infer they've not got one.

Who monitors and fines them for not having one?

Trading Standards are responsible for monitoring and ensuring compliance of the HIP regulations.

poppysarah

Evee2000 wrote: »

Trading Standards are responsible for monitoring and ensuring compliance of the HIP regulations.

Well if I was refused a peek at a HIP I'd give them a call. Always the chance the EA might not appreciate it and be a git to you in future, but as most of them are already skilled at this.

Evee2000

Taken from the Governments HIP website, from the 'Estate Agent obligations' area http://www.homeinformationpacks.gov.uk/industry/72_What_are_my_obligations.html



You are under a duty to provide a copy of the Pack (or any part of it) to a potential buyer who asks for it. The only exceptions to this rule are where it is believed that:

• The person making the request could not afford the property in question
• The person making the request is not really interested in buying the property
• The potential buyer is not a person to whom the seller would wish to sell the property.

However, this does not allow the responsible person to unlawfully discriminate against anyone.

Little_Otter

You have the right to view a HIP on a property you are interested in, although if they have reason to suspect you are just being nosey, i.e, you have a max budget of 250K and requested to see a the HIP for a 500K etc house they are legally allowed to refuse out of consideration to the clients privacy....
So you cant view any HIP, only ones you are genuinely interested in/can afford.
But if they refuse (and it is of genuine interest) you ARE entitled to see it, and if its not been done yet (some houses still dont have them if they were continuously marketed from before Dec 2007, and the requirement for ALL houses to have a HIP only came in on 1st Oct) you can hold back you interest/offer until it is readily available.
Also, you can not take the actual HIP away, as the vendor legally owns it, you make take a copy if the vendor agrees or you may sit in the EAs office and read through it.
HTHs

Evee2000

Little_Otter wrote: »

You have the right to view a HIP on a property you are interested in, although if they have reason to suspect you are just being nosey, i.e, you have a max budget of 250K and requested to see a the HIP for a 500K etc house they are legally allowed to refuse out of consideration to the clients privacy....
So you cant view any HIP, only ones you are genuinely interested in/can afford.
But if they refuse (and it is of genuine interest) you ARE entitled to see it, and if its not been done yet (some houses still dont have them if they were continuously marketed from before Dec 2007, and the requirement for ALL houses to have a HIP only came in on 1st Oct) you can hold back you interest/offer until it is readily available.
Also, you can not take the actual HIP away, as the vendor legally owns it, you make take a copy if the vendor agrees or you may sit in the EAs office and read through it.
HTHs

sorry, this is not the case. The requirement for an EPC to be available on all marketed and rented property came in on 1st October, there is no drop dead date for all properties to require a HIP, as yet.

Little_Otter

Evee2000 wrote: »

sorry, this is not the case. The requirement for an EPC to be available on all marketed and rented property came in on 1st October, there is no drop dead date for all properties to require a HIP, as yet.

sorry my mistake ;-)

Evee2000

No Probs

Catti

Evee2000 wrote: »

sorry, this is not the case. The requirement for an EPC to be available on all marketed and rented property came in on 1st October, there is no drop dead date for all properties to require a HIP, as yet.

I thought that this was due to happen on 31st December 2008?

Evee2000

Catti wrote: »

I thought that this was due to happen on 31st December 2008?

Hi - No not as yet. The only thing that will currently happen is the ending of the temporary measure which allowed estate agents to market the property upon confirmation of the HIP Order.

1 January 2009 onwards
The temporary period ends on 31 December 2008. So from 1 January 2009, there must be a Pack available when marketing starts and certain documents must be in the Pack. Marketing with an incomplete Pack may take place if documents have been requested and it is expected that they will become available within 28 days of the start of marketing. Where documents are missing, this should be noted in the Pack Index and reasonable efforts should be made to obtain them as soon as possible. This exemption only covers the following documents:

• Searches
• Leasehold and Commonhold information
• Evidence of Title (for unregistered properties only)