MSE News: Home information packs 'more expensive' via estate agents 19 August 2009 at 11:17AM in House buying, renting & selling 30 replies 5.6K views

Former_MSE_Guy

This is the discussion thread for the following MSE News Story:

"Sellers can pay £300 more for their home information pack (Hip) if they get it from an estate agent, research out today shows.

Consumer group Which? says it's often cheaper to buy via independent providers ..."

Read the full story:
Home information packs 'more expensive' via estate agents

star_ka

Would defninately agree. We were in a hurry to get our house on the market in Ester and thought the fastest way of doing this was to go through our estate agent. Hindsight is a wonderfull thing.

Why are the government continuing with hips anyway? I have had a few viewings and not one has asked to see the hips. Our estate agent agreed that they are a waste of money....

54druids

Halifax most expensive? You are having a laugh, mine cost £600 through a surveyor and I live in a 5 year old house in Scotland. I think they are a waste of time in new property. I can see the advantage in and old property though. Our previous estate agent wanted to charge £700 but said they would refund in 9 months if the property sold which was not likely since they were appalling and they wanted to charge and extra .3 of percent so it was a con anyway

Goodwithmoney

You should never buy anything via an Estate Agent!! LOL - you have to be careful with these cheap home information packs. Most solicitors get you to commit to using them for conveyancing in return for the cheap hip price. Fridays Property Lawyers (the cheapest hip listed) don't though - so that price is a real bargain - if you can get it!

Storm

A friend of mine is putting her place on the market & just agreed to go with the EA Hips package as she doesn't have to pay anything until the property sells - mind you, this is the same person who just phoned one agency as 'they're good' despite never having sold before!

Milliewilly

My Agent wanted £300 + VAT. I put my details in online and got 2 x HIP people contacting me locally. The one I picked charged £180 all in. He also told me he does the HIPS for my Estate Agent!

asajoseph

I was quoted around £500ish (for a leasehold, central London), but the agent that told me was obviously embarrassed by the price!

I went online, and ended up paying about £280 with an online providor - they were a little slow, but overall provided a very good service, and did exactly what was required.

lelole

As with everything, it all depends and you need to shop around - we got our HIP from our EA at £99 +VAT, as they were doing a special offer to get business...

lelole

G_M

Storm wrote: »

A friend of mine is putting her place on the market & just agreed to go with the EA Hips package as she doesn't have to pay anything until the property sells - mind you, this is the same person who just phoned one agency as 'they're good' despite never having sold before!

Who 'owns' the HIP in this case? Your friend will find that if the house doesn't sell and/or she decides to switch agent, she will need to start again as the agent will keep the HIP.

If you buy the HIP yourself, it's yours and you can switch agents without worrying about the HIP.

irisandalex

G_M wrote: »

Who 'owns' the HIP in this case? Your friend will find that if the house doesn't sell and/or she decides to switch agent, she will need to start again as the agent will keep the HIP.

If you buy the HIP yourself, it's yours and you can switch agents without worrying about the HIP.

That's good advice! We got a HIP recently when selling and were glad we had no hassles if changing estate agent.

There are a few websites out there which can get you multiple quotes from local HIP providers, trustedlocal.com is one. Use your estate agent to sell your house and a HIP provider to produce your HIP!

(Disclaimer - I'm involved with this website so would recommend it, but alternatively look in the yellow pages and you'll be able to find local HIP providers yourself.)

Brian_Smith_2

Used a Hips Provider who was an independant so if you switch estate agents it does'nt matter because you own the Hips not the Estate Agents.
Estate Agents always try to make a quick buck for nothing. We used BKS Home Information Services - They were very good and helpfull £249 incl