Can anyone please help me re a HIP pack

gilly41

Hi
We decided a couple of weeks ago to put the house on the market. Anyhow, the board was up, the HIP pack ordered through our EA on a deferred payment scheme(pay 9 months later or when the house house sells whichever happens first!!!!) and then OH finds out on Wednesday that he may be, after 34 years at the same firm, be losing his job.

Obviously we didnt expect it so we decided that the best thing to do would be to take the house off the market and stay put as goodness knows what might happen and we didnt want, as i am sure you can understand, anymore stress on top of the worry of his job situation.

I told the EA the next day and they said they will still have to charge us HALF the getting out fee(think it works out about £80) and that the HIP pack needs to be dealt with through the firm. I rang the HIP firm and they said that it is too late---the pack is complete and that there is NOTHING we can do. We have to pay it and that now it is on a deferred payment scheme it will become payable within 7 days as the deferred scheme is only for ppl with the house on the market

OMG I am well and truly fed up. We dont have a crystal ball and we didnt expect OH to get that news!! Is there any way round any of this or will we have to pay??If we do it has cost us about £400 inc fees. A dear job:mad:
Thanks for any advice i might get xx

Gangstabird

Did you sign anything? Sorry if this a stupid question. But if you haven't signed anything you are not liable for anything. The fact that they are allowing you 50% off says you didn't?

gilly41

Hi
Right we signed an agreement with the EA which states that we would pay the fees and the HIP. I know, I know

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arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!! Now ten days down the line we are going to have to pay near enough £400.

I am just wondering if there is anyway round it? The payment is deferred with the HIP provider however the EA has to let them know we have withdrawn and then it becomes payable within 7 days. I have phoned and asked the EA if there is any way round it and he said yesterday that he will see what he can do!!!!

I dont hold out any hope though. The fact is though we dont have £400 spare cash---that is why i deferred the HIP payment. xx

sharpe106

If you signed the agreement there is probably not a lot you can do, read the small print and see if it is in there, the chances are you will have to pay.

Look at it from their point of view, if they have done the work then it would have cost them to do it. They can sell it to anybody else so it is worthless to them and if they do not charge you then they would make a loss

gilly41

Yes I do appreciate that!
I just wondered if anyone had been in the same position and if so what was the outcome? x

eanick

You could ask the EA to keep the house on the market - low key / back of drawer - no ads etc. Property remains technically on market whilst you have a chance to get the monies together. Has been done this way in my office and if things change you can go back to the market with the HIP in place and ready to go.

gilly41

Thanks Eanick.
The lady in the EA suggested this before i contacted the HIP people.She didnt explain that if i were to take it off the market that it would become payable immediately.I said no just take it off!!!
On reflection, as the last couple of days have been very stressful, we have thought maybe we jumped the gun and should have said leave it low key. She said she had a couple ready to put an offer in too

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obviously that was a no go as we would need to have total job security(well as far as you can----OH been told that his job is safe for now!).The couple had looked round on the Tuesday before all this came out about OH job!!!!!!!!!!
I have to smile as last time we sold our house it took a year---this time we get an offer off a first time buyer in about 6 days!!!
If i ring Monday and say we have decided to leave low key do you think that will be ok?? x

sharpe106

ring who the EA or the hip people? if you are phoning the hip people all you have to say is that the property is on the market still

eanick

It would depend on the terms of the credit part of the agreement but if the agent can talk to the HIp provider they may well be able to sort things out. The other thing to bear in mind is that it is like any other monies owed - if you talk to them and explain the situation, offer a payment plan - say £100 a month for the next four months at least they know they will be getting the money.This gives you a chance to take stock of whats going on and its not as painful as parting with the whole £400 in one hit!!

gilly41

Hi
When i rang the HIP people on Friday I was just asking them "what if" we take it off the market! I never said we were taking it off to them and they were very rude and said that now i had suggested we may be taking it off the market that in order for them to be confident that I was telling them the truth they needed my EA to ring them and tell them what i was doing----crazy or what!!!! I rang my EA and explained to them that they had been very rude. He said he would call me back but i never heard from him!!!

I asked about a payment plan to the HIP ppl and they said this to me
"If you take out a payment plan it would be £35 initially cos you wouldnt have made the full payment and then a further £50 to go on a plan. Also the payments can only be taken over 3 months. So a £300 HIP would now cost £385".
As i say i rang the EA and told him everything and I am awaiting a call back off him!!! xx

Ilian2008

ami missing something here? you ordered it. Its been prepared. Now you dont want to pay for it? So the HIP provider must go out of pocket? Thats not right is it? They deferred payment to help you out in the first place.