HIPs - whose responsibility?

ajaxgeezer

Hey folks,

My friend is currently buying a house, approaching exchange, but his conveyancer has pointed out that the local searches within the HIP are out of date, so need to be brought up to date. He's contacted the estate agent who has told him that local searches are the responsibility of the buyer to arrange, and also that HIPs CAN'T go out of date. The agent asked the sellers if "they would be kind enough to pay for new local searches", but they refused!!!

My friend told the agent that as the local searches form part of the HIP, then they palpably must be the sellers'/agent's responsibility to keep updated and paid for, and also that is part of the HIP is out of date, then the HIP is out of date.

They are at an impasse. Does anyone know for certain what should happen? It seems obvious to me that my friend is right, but I have no absolute knowledge and cannot quote law. Surely though, if the agent provide the HIP as part of their sale package, it has to be an up to date HIP?

Any help gratefully received

russ21282

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/HomeAndCommunity/BuyingAndSellingYourHome/Homeinformationpacks/DG_171807

Looks like standard searches are compulsary, so it will be the sellers which have to do them. Not sure whether they will have expired as they weren't introduced all that long ago. But it makes sense for them to expire as things are obviously going to change.

hth

sarah_elton

There is no obligation for the seller to keep the HIP up to date:

http://www.conveyancing-cms.co.uk/home_information_packs3.asp

"The regulations stipulate that the required searches, the Official Copy Entries, and time sensitive leasehold/commonhold documents such as management accounts must not be more than three months old at the First Point of Marketing.

Once the HIP is in place it does not have to be updated unless the Seller takes the property off the market and then returns it to the market at a later date.

...

Searches have a limited shelf life of around 3 months and if the searches are out of date then it is the buyer who must pay to have them renewed or updated."

sarah_elton

russ21282 wrote: »

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/HomeAndCommunity/BuyingAndSellingYourHome/Homeinformationpacks/DG_171807

Looks like standard searches are compulsary, so it will be the sellers which have to do them. Not sure whether they will have expired as they weren't introduced all that long ago. But it makes sense for them to expire as things are obviously going to change.

hth

The seller had to include them in the HIP originally, but has no legal obligation to update them once the expire, so long as the property is continually marketed.

When they wrote the HIP laws we were still in a boom where houses weren't sitting on the market for months on end. :rolleyes:

russ21282

Would that not contradict this point though?

Responsibility for the accuracy of the HIP

The Seller is responsible for the accuracy of the HIP unless they appoint an estate agent at which point the liability for the accuracy of the HIP passes to the estate agent. The Seller or their agent will not responsible for the accuracy of information provided by third parties such as searches, official copies etc. provided they have good reason to believe they are accurate.


Surely if the HIP is out of date it is inaccurate and the resposibility of the seller or estate agent who did it?

sarah_elton

The searches are accurate, as of the date they were done. Nothing in that point says that the searches have to be up to date.

From the Government website you linked to earlier:

"
How long does a HIP last for?

While the property is on the market, there is no need to update the HIP. If the sale of your property stops and then starts again, you may have to compile a new HIP and provide up-to-date documents.

However, you can carry on using the same HIP without the need to update any of the documents where:

• marketing stopped because an offer was accepted and the sale has fallen through (but remarketing must start within one year of the date when marketing first began or, if later, within 28 days of the sale falling through)
• marketing has stopped for any other reason and the seller remarkets the property within one year of the date when marketing first began.

The effect of this is that the HIP has a shelf-life of at least 12 months for the seller."

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/HomeAndCommunity/BuyingAndSellingYourHome/Homeinformationpacks/DG_171803

sarah_elton

BUT, having said that, as a seller in this market I'd rather just pay for new searches (probably about £50) than risk losing a buyer, even knowing that technically it's their responsibility.

I agree completely it seems to defeat the purpose of HIPS if sellers don't have to keep them up to date. I was just pointing out that OP's friend isn't technically correct and can't insist the HIP be updated. One of many reasons why HIPS in the form they were introduced are a complete waste of space.

russ21282

sarah_elton wrote: »

BUT, having said that, as a seller in this market I'd rather just pay for new searches (probably about £50) than risk losing a buyer, even knowing that technically it's their responsibility.

I agree completely it seems to defeat the purpose of HIPS if sellers don't have to keep them up to date. I was just pointing out that OP's friend isn't technically correct and can't insist the HIP be updated. One of many reasons why HIPS in the form they were introduced are a complete waste of space.

Well i've learned something today, HIPS are even more worthless than i originally though!:rolleyes:

Totally agree though, I don't think the sellers would be in any position to get arsey about it. It would probably make me look elsewhere out of principle

Richard_Webster

It is entirely a matter of negotiation between seller and buyer. If seller really scared buyer might pull out then he may pay for new searches or at least insurance that effectively extends search "shelf life."

And, yes, of course the HIP is pretty useless, what did anyone expect?

russ21282

When they first started talking about them, I thought they were going to be like service history for cars, if they were, i think will be quite useful, you know what was done, when, buy who, have guarantee's for work etc, boundary stuff, who is responsible for what (walls, sewage pipes) a history of relationships with neighbours. Basically everything you need to now about the house.

I wouldn't buy car now without service history, considering houses tend to be lot more expensive and life altering ,they should be the same if not more detailed.

They could have been useful, but no, they're pointless.

sarah_elton

When they first started talking about them they were going to include a lot more stuff than they do now. I think it was originally going to include a survey of some sort as well. The legislation got scaled back and scaled back after round after round of review, until it emerged in it's current form.

As I said, it was written in a housing market boom where it was a lot less common for houses to sit on the market for three months.