How long are the parts of a HIP valid for?

danpearce

Hi,
I tried to sell my house last year before our buyer pulled out and everything went south. I had to have a HIP which was sorted out by my solicitors at a fee of nearly £500.
Now I am thinking about starting it all again and from what I can work out need a new HIP.
Having looked into it, I think I can do it myself for about £150, although recognise that I will need a professional to carry out the Energy Performance Certificate and to get the land searches and water searches from the authorities. The question is though, as I only had this done in Jan 08, are my previous EPC or land searches valid?
I would be grateful if you know or just have any advice. Thanks!

Doozergirl

I don't see why they aren't valid. If your house had been continuously on the market, it would certainly be valid. I have even seen it raised on the board that if you bought recently then the original searches would also suffice, despite being out of date for the actual purpose of conveyancing.

If you haven't sold the house since you had that HIP I can't possibly see why you would need a new one. There are plenty of houses on the market that have been on for a couple of years now!

danpearce

Thanks for the reply. I'm a bit confused really. I've read that EPCs are valid for three years, but also that they have to be done within 3 months of the house going on sale. As I took it off the market for a while I'm not sure if it's valid or not.

chaosweddings

we took our house off the market in dec 08 and went to put it back on in april 09 but were told by the ea that we would need a new hip done as our house had been taken off the market, the ea said we could use any hip company !

we rang around a lot of companies and even rang the local council and they all stated that if you take your house of the market and want to put it back on ata later date (even a week later) you will need a new hip done !
they also epc's are valid for 3 years but if you take your house of market you will still need a new one done

so , we decided not to sell our house and had a extension built instead

hth
chaos

danpearce

Well, that's sorted that. It'll have to be a new EPC and searches, then.
Thanks for your help!

Doozergirl

From Hips4u

"If you take your property off the market and then put it back on again, there is no need to refresh the documentation in the HIP providing you relist the property within 12 months of having first marketed the property."