Home Information Packs

[Deleted User]

Extract from a Daily Mail report

"ESTATE agents, surveyors and solicitors today called on the Government to cancel plans to introduce information packs for people buying and selling houses.

The heads of more than 500 companies have written to Housing Minister Yvette Cooper calling on her to drop plans to introduce Home Information Packs in June next year. "

Can anyone see any advantage in this scheme which this government wants to introduce? Personally, I do not see any advanatage whatsoever, and I don't think it will expedite a house purchase transaction as the govenrment is telling us it will do. And I would not trust any searches or any other paper work which may have been prepared months before by the vendor. I would prefer my own solicitor to do all the work. And if I were to trust the searches and something may have been overlooked, on whom would I as the purchaser seek any recompense. I think the whole idea is pathetic.

Perhaps we should all get together and set up a petition as this could kill the housing market. Any comments from anyone would be appreciated.

lush_walrus

Nope I think very few people can see the advantage, it certainly wont hurry sales up...Mine was one of the complaint letters!!! All companies involved with the housing market are trying to stick together on this one and veto it, but the government want it, so my guess is it will go through regardless.

mummytofour

I wish house sales would hurry up tho, they are soooo stressful!

auditbabe

mummytofour wrote:

I wish house sales would hurry up tho, they are soooo stressful!

I am never going to move again you are right it is sooooooo stressful

zag2me

Benifits are making the Buying process more simple, transfering the cost and risk to the seller(a good thing) and making the house buying process more transparent. The only reason the estate agents want it stopped is that it is a cost to the seller, so sellers wont want to move as often.

I think its a fantastic idea, especially if you are a first time buyer, they need all the help they can get.

zag2me

lindabea wrote:

Perhaps we should all get together and set up a petition as this could kill the housing market. Any comments from anyone would be appreciated.

Thats a good thing, not a bad thing! Its your typical daily mail article aimed at people how already own houses

adr0ck

its fantastic news

increase in sale prices ....... as less houses on the market

bigger increase for new homes...........(don't need sellers packs)

yey

Pal

From what I can tell the main problem with these packs are that noone will trust the surveys. However I think that having the land registry and planning searches carried out by the vendor is a great idea, even if the cost gets added to the purchase price. Perhaps a more limited pack that excludes the survey would be appropriate.

The energy efficiency report is the most stupid idea I have ever heard. ("Oh no, I'm not buying that house, it was rated an E by an underqualified lagging fitter.")

For the surveys, I have no doubt at all that within a few years some mortgage lenders will have standing agreements in place that they will lend without further surveys on properties where the HIP survey was carried out by a few specific survey companies (large national companies no doubt). I.e. if you are selling a house and you use XYZ survey company, you will know that a large number of mortgage lenders will not require a further survey before lending to your potential purchaser. This encourages the seller to use that survey firm, encourages the buyer to go to the linked mortgage company (and may encourage them to buy that property instead of another one) and makes the process quicker all round.

If the bulk of the legal work has already been carried out and no mortgage survey is required, the process speeds up.

My concern however is that, until this happens, the HIP pack is just extra information, with little discernable time gain. That makes it good for buyers but bad for sellers, which is why estate agents don't like them - protecting the interests of themselves and their selling clients.

Taking the idea of linked survey and mortgage companies a step further, if the surveys have already been carried out by a company that the buyer and mortgage company both "trust", then there is no reason why exchange of contracts cannot happen immediately at the offer stage, rather than waiting for a period during which many sales collapse. Surely that alone is a good reason for sellers to support HIPs?