Minimum marketing required to keep HIP alive?

Iansl

Hello there,

I had a HIP done on my house less than a year ago and have now decided not to move for a year or two and have taken the house off the market for the time being.

However, as I have paid for the Home Information Pack (HIP) I dont want to pay out for it again when I decide the time is right to sell up.

My understanding is that the HIP is only valid for a year if your house is not being marketed. Therefore I want to market the house before the year is out but in such a discreet way that I will not get any buyers but i am legally keeping my HIP alive.

I am thinking that I could put a postcard in the upstairs window that says FOR SALE (nobody is likely to pay any attention to it) or I could advertise it on some internet website at a ridiculous price. Basically I dont want the marketing to cost me anything, I just need it to be sufficient to legally keep the HIP alive beyond the 12 months.

Does anyone have any views on what is the minimum marketing that can be done? I dont want to bother the estate agents on the high street with my house at triple its market value.

I have checked the government website but I cant find enough detail on what is defined as marketing.

Thanks.

lovethymini

ring an estate agent - I think a buyer's solicitor will generally consider any reports out of date if over 6 months old.

Had a quick look online and found this, hope it helps
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/HomeAndCommunity/BuyingAndSellingYourHome/Homeinformationpacks/DG_171803

Iansl

Hi thanks for the reply. Yes, I had read that which just outlines what I thought - so long as your house continues to be marketed then you dont need to update your HIP. I just need to know what constitutes "marketing" and if it can be as little as a postcard in the window.

I will discuss it with an estate agent but it is in their interest to get me onboard with them and I dont want to sell the house, just keep the HIP alive.

Yorkie1

One angle which occurs to me is that if the HIP ends up being a couple of years old by the time you decide to actively market the property again, wouldn't any purchaser want to know what is so wrong with the house that it couldn't sell in those years?

If the answer given was (to all intents and purposes) that you didn't want to spend the money on a fresh HIP, the potential purchaser may also wonder what else you'd skimped on.

Just a different perspective about the message you may end up giving out.

Iansl

Thats a good point but personally when I was house hunting, I glanced at the energy ratings on the estate agents particulars and that was it. There is no date specified with those energy ratings and so its not until you get a lot further down the line that you may bother to look at the HIP itself.

While the house was marketed I received three offers that I accepted initially but in the end I never moved. None of these potential buyers were bothered in looking at the HIP itself so they would never know.