Home Buying Reform 2007 ??

dpcsystems

Hi i overhead a converstaion where someone was sayig that next year the home buying & selling process in england & wales is to change, something about some sort of passport needed to move house costing £700 and bascially making it more difficult for people to move house, hence trying to clamp down on so many people making money out of the market.

Not sure of how much of the above is true, if anyone can shed some light on this then i would be most grateful, as i was orginally looking to move next year.

thanks

darktrader

That's right.

Just do a Web Search on "Home Seller's Pack."

As for "and bascially making it more difficult for people to move house"

Doubtful that it will make it more difficult - but certainly more expensive for the seller.

"...hence trying to clamp down on so many people making money out of the market."

Odd point of view, in my view. Firstly, there are relatively few people who make money out of the Market - apart from Estate Agents, Mortgage lenders, etc. Bit of a myth, fuelled by all those Property Developer-type programmes. And the wholly incorrect assumption that if you own one property - your home - and it's value rises you are "making money." The money is tied up in a home which you would have to sell in order to realize the profit.

Far more peole are making far more money out of non-property investments than there are property developers. (Just look into "Buy-to-Let." The figures just don't stack up.)

Besides, there is already the prohibitively expensive Stamp Duty that has failed to dampen buyers ardour, and the 40% tax payable on profits when second homes are sold, not to mention the tax payable on rental income from those homes.

MortgageMamma

YOu are referring to home information packs. They are not designed to make selling more difficult, but are there to assist the buyer and seller and hopefully (I'm not sure this will be the case) to speed up the conveyancing process. In the packs will be copies of the deeds and boundarys, a survey, an energy efficiency rating and some of the searches required. The prices for the packs are still at speculation stage and will vary from provider to provider.

They are designed to create an awareness at a very early stage for the buyer to know what they are getting for their money, and the seller to market their property to a sufficient level, warts and all. The best place to go to look for details on home information packs at present, is the office of the deputy prime ministers website. Here you will get the (current) basic facts and less marketing hype. http://www.communities.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1151026 there is a download at the bottom of page.

There is still some speculation that the HIPS may not happen for whatever reason.

TangentMan

HIPs will happen since the real motivation is that the EU is mandating that all properties are assessed with regards to energy efficiency ratings. Since we won't voluntarily do it, and since passing a law making us do it would bring the torch weilding mob onto the street, enforcing a pack that has this as a clause will mean that over the next 40 years the problem will largely take care of itself.

The intention is not a passport, it is in no way designed to restrict movement and the pack has the benefit as MM says that you will get a better picture of the property you are buying (and more easily able to compare to others).