"Sellers pack"

cazzybabe

Sorry if this has been posted previously - i did look!!
Does anybody know about the change of law regarding selling your home ie. the seller must provide a "sellers pack" to include surveys and searches? I have been told this could cost around £800 and is only valid for a few months..... does anybody know about it and when it would come into force?

EdInvestor

Not planned until the middle of next year.

Lots of people are now campaigning against it, including the Tories, the estate agents and surveyors, the mortgage lenders and Kirstie Allsop.

So perhaps it will never happen

molotov_3

I think the idea is to stop sellers putting their property on the market just to find out its worth. Apparently spending £800 will mean only serious sellers will actually but the house up for sale. Obviously buyers will not be happy accepting these reports and will commission their own ones so people argue that there is no point to them.

EdInvestor

Yes, there's a fear that many people will either withdraw their homes, or not put them on the market at all, which will cause a shortage and put prices up.

Ian_W

You forgot that the Law Society is agin 'em Ed. Now anything that lawyers, EA's and Kirsty are against - can't be all bad!!

The government and Consumers Assn are very for them - so I suspect they will be introduced though I think there may be changes before they are. I think the intro date is June 2007 at which time EAs will also be, I believe, required to become members of the Ombudsman scheme which ATM is optional.

There have been several threads about it but I can only find one here:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=142583&highlight=hips

meanmachine_2

Estate agents are against them because it'll hit turnover. But they can't be sure by how much. It'll certainly choke supply, but possibly lead to a big spike in properties on the market leading up to next summer.

If I was in their shoes I'd be whining too. But I'm not. I have a proper job.

robwend

i think its a fab idea. its all money you would pay out anyway, and if your a true seller it will be a godsend to you

sm9ai

Its a great idea for buyers and sellers. Its just the people who make all the money in the market at the moment that it will effect, thats why they are against it.

lynzpower

I cant wait for them to come in and Im thinking, actually, maybe Ill wait for selling till that time in any case. I certainly dont want to be going through the rigmarrol that my parents did repeatedly in my childhood of seeing property, liking it, spending ££s on a survey to find major probs, then finding another property, more surveys more ££s and suddenly youve spent a few K with nothing to show for it.
As a seller ( yes theres a few minor issues with my place) I only need to pay for it once then avoid the traipsing of surveyors time after time ( potentially) I think it makes for a much more transparent system and that can only be a good thing.
Do people really put properties on the market when theyve got no intention of selling? It costs ££s to pay estate agents?!

lynzpower

and of course, it may quicken up the process too- which can only be a good thing IMHO

EdInvestor

lynzpower wrote:

Do people really put properties on the market when theyve got no intention of selling? It costs ££s to pay estate agents?!

You only pay the agent if you get a sale. There may be quite a few people who put their home on the market to see how much people will offer - and if they can't get what they think it's worth, then they don't sell.

IMHO the sellers packs aren't going to speed up the sale - the problem is with the solicitors. No solicitor is going to rely on old searches in a seller's pack - he will want to do them again. The lenders will also want a new survey and so will any sensible buyer.The vendors will add the cost of the pack to the house price, so that will push prices up anyway.

If the object of the exercise is to speed up the buying and selling process then it would be more sensible to get all the solicitors and local authority search documents online.