Home Information Packs - are you for them or against them?

F_T_Buyer

It's looks like there's been alot mentioned in the media today about HIPs. But I thought it would be a good idea to see if money savers will be for or against it.

Here's some links to todays articles:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=395216&in_page_id=1770&ico=Homepage&icl=TabModule&icc=NEWS&ct=5

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/homeaffairs/story/0,,1818650,00.html?gusrc=ticker-103704

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/5171532.stm

seven-day-weekend

>>The aim is to knock weeks off the normal house-buying process, reduce the scope for gazumping and to make sure that fewer deals fall through<<

(from bbc website)

So, why don't they make offers legally binding.?....so much cheaper and less hassle!

dougk_2

I agree with the above . Also would be better to make the mortgage companies, solicitors, local authories (searches) to carry out the work they needed to do within a set period of days (14 days perhaps?).

Who as a buyer would look at bits of paper produced by the sellers choice of surveyor/estate agent etc especially if it was done 3 months beforehand.

Stupid idea and something that just costs more money without giving any protection against guzumping , pulling out at last minute etc.

irnbru_2

dougk wrote:

Who as a buyer would look at bits of paper produced by the sellers choice of surveyor/estate agent etc especially if it was done 3 months beforehand.

I don't know much about HIPs, think they only apply south of the border.

In regards to the trust issue, isn't a surveyor under a legal duty to provide factual information?

Gem_

If we went over to the Scottish system then I would support it. House buying would become a cheaper and more streamlined process with much less agonising in a chain that might break at any point.

This new home buyers pack just seems to be adding more stress, expense and burocracy to the process. I think it will turn out to be an expensive waste of money.

zag2me

Sounds like a great idea to me, most consumer body's are for it, and most estate agents are against it. Doesnt that tell you something?

meanmachine_2

How can anyone *in principle* be against HIPs?

How can you be against a system that stops potential buyers having to pay for the same survey on the same home time after time after time after time?

The question is whether the govt's got it right with their fudged proposals. That's another poll entirely.

By the way, the Daily Mail is against it because it's an estate agent - it owns propertyfinder.com.

honeychurch

I don't know how offers could be made legally binding without the sort of detailed information that HIP would include being made available for the purchaser to consider before making a binding offer.

We put in an offer on a leasehold place recently and it took weeks for us to get the sellers questionnaires back from the solicitor, which threw up a number of issues which we have had to urgently consider - the biggest being major external redecoration planned for next year- which could be thousands. (incidently the vendor claims to know nothing about this). At this point we had already paid 475 for the valuation and survey but if we can't renegotiate the agreed purchase price we will have to pull out!

Why does it take so long to find out this information? Surely HIPs will speed things up?

sue_balu

Surely there will always be delays and deals falling through AT THE POINT JUST BEFORE WHICH THE DEAL IS LEGALLY BINDING. No amount of consumer protection will ever change that nor should it, if you think about it. Second thoughts are human nature and changing circumstances a fact of life.

If I were buying a property I would have to pay for my own survey and searches anyway as HIPs will only be relevant on the day there were written not 2/4/6/ months down the line.

HIPs are another poorly thought out idea to separate people from there hard earned cash and drive the house prices even higher. Sellers will have to cover their costs wont they?

irnbru_2

sue_balu wrote:

If I were buying a property I would have to pay for my own survey and searches anyway as HIPs will only be relevant on the day there were written not 2/4/6/ months down the line.

Don't these chains take 2/4/6/ months to complete? I don't hear people geting a new survey done every 8 weeks.

BobProperty

meanmachine wrote:

How can anyone *in principle* be against HIPs?

How can you be against a system that stops potential buyers having to pay for the same survey on the same home time after time after time after time?

.....

I'm not against a "house logbook" type of document, I'm against a government creating an unworkable burden on sellers (which conspiracy theorists say is just to fit in with an EU directive anyway) which will do little to help the housing market and a lot to get some people into "nothing" jobs and raise more VAT.

The problem is it doesn't stop multiple surveys. One of the faults with the Scottish system too. The HIP will not be a valuation, the government pulled that after the small pilot study in Bristol, as no lender would accept a valuation done by the seller. (Think about it, that does make sense).

The only good parts I can see in HIPs (regular forum members faint now as BobProperty said good and HIP in the same sentence) are that:
They put off the speculative "put it on the market now and see and if we don't get enough we don't sell it" vendor and ...
That complete disasters of buildings actually have most of their blatant faults highlighted to the totally "constructionally" ignorant.

Other than that (and maybe something else I'm not aware of) they will only slow the marketing process, cause extra grief and may have to be fudged to be made to work. Anyone know if any HIP Inspectors have liability insurance quotes yet? I keep asking but the reply is a deafening silence.