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

BobProperty

From the Torygraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=JVTTI1NO4ZLCRQFIQMGSFGGAVCBQWIV0?xml=/news/2006/07/16/nhips16.xml

Estimated number of Home Inspectors needed 7400
Number already trained 232

F_T_Buyer

Looks like parts of the HIP will be delayed:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/5192100.stm

BobProperty

Anyone know anything about the 14,000 dry run test? Or was that another bit of useful employment our civil service got to do?

Jorgan_2

Many EA's & HIP providers were doing dry runs, some without the HCR as they didn'y have the Inspectors to do it.

So we are left with the legal pack & an energy rating report. The legal pack side of things may well be made redundant with 'e-conveyancing' due to come on line in May next year.

The debate in Parliament is till going ahead today, opponents to the scheme are still trying to get the whole scrapped.

The energy rating is still required, they've nearly come clean over that one.

Gorgeous_George

I know HIPs are unpopular but the current system is barking.

If a sale has been agreed and costs incurred, those costs should be recoverable if either party renages on the deal. The seller should put £500 into a bond when they first advertise their home for sale. On acceptance of an offer, the buyer should match the £500. The £1000 should be used to compensate the injured party if anything goes wrong and the sale does not proceed.



GG

MissMotivation

Gorgeous_George wrote:

I know HIPs are unpopular but the current system is barking.

If a sale has been agreed and costs incurred, those costs should be recoverable if either party renages on the deal. The seller should put £500 into a bond when they first advertise their home for sale. On acceptance of an offer, the buyer should match the £500. The £1000 should be used to compensate the injured party if anything goes wrong and the sale does not proceed.



GG

Interesting idea GG, however who would decide which party is at fault should the sale fall through? What if the buyer has a chain and the buyer at the bottom of the chain pulls out......hardly the buyers fault but both buyer and vendor lose money so who would get the £1000? What if the sale falls through due to a death or job loss etc.

As I said before interesting idea but put into practice it just would never work.

Gem_

Well the clime down on HIPs has started - the survey part was removed this morning. So now they are 'only' going to cost £150. Which presumably covers the searches and the environmental report.

G

lush_walrus

BobProperty wrote:

On the energy thing, has any EA ever known any buyer pull out of a deal beacuse the property wasn't energy efficient enough?

No but energy efficient saving building has been big for quite a while, which included an update in the Building Regs Part L.

Now the push is for exisiting properties to be energy efficient, a push that is coming from the EU. In the future, who knows how buyers will feel about it, generally these things form trends at the moment being led by the higher requirements in new builds but it will filter down and some people will start wanting a more energy efficient property.

courtjester

The Energy efficiency Report (EER) is a good thing long term as it will encourage builders to improve construction and sellers to improve insulation as buyers start to compare efficiency as part of the process of selection.

It's a shame that the government have been so dishonest from the start about why they wanted to introduce HIPs, namely to force the cost of providing the energy certificate required by Brussells onto home sellers. They have basically endeavoured to bury this information as deep as possible, but when have politicians ever been known to treat the public with anything other than utter contempt.

We are of course all too stupid to see through the spin....

Jorgan_2

Have to feel sorry for anyone training to be a Home Inspector, most of the training wasn't Government funded & the quick course, about 12 months to complete, cost around £8000. Likewise many of the HIP providers are going to be well out of pocket, one provider that came to see me reckoned they would be spending £20 million in getting everything in place.