Do I need HIP Insurance?

lucyg1974

We are several months into the purchase of a new house. Our solicitors seem to charge us extra for everything - each enquiry they send to the seller's solicitors costs us extra - and now they say we must take out a HIP insurance policy. This costs £150 & VAT or they say we will have to get a new HIP done. I can't see any mention of this on the government HIP guidance pages and have never hear of it myself. Can anyone tell me if this is right? I am confused and don't want to spend even more money if I don't have to!
Thanks in advance.

MissMotivation

This is confusing as it's the Vendor, and not the Purchaser, who is responsible for providing a HIP.

Could the Solicitor mean that the searches contained within the HIP are over 6 months old and they are recommending indemnity insurance OR getting new searches done?

lucyg1974

The searches were done in Aug 09 so it is over 6 months old. They are saying that we can either insure at £150 or do the searches again which they say will cost £250.

MissMotivation

That seems expensive for indemnity insurance, it's normally around £40/£50!

G_M

Bit late now but... Conveyancing Quotes and Hidden Costs

Seems expensive to me too. Indemnity insurance

Try google to find alternative cheaper providers.

timmyt

Ask the lawyer specifically what the insurance is for. If it is as MissM suggests (probably right) then yes, they should present you with alternatives, indemnity insurance or a fresh search. The former is cheaper. Do they really expect the drainage search to have changed (presumably mains already so what do they expect to change) despite its age?

Problem is your lawyer has to arrange the insurance, so you are kind of captured by his avaiable insurance products....

Indemnity insurance for 'search validation' is based on the value of the property. Nothing like the cost they are charging, so they could be charging for arranging the policy.

If you have paid peanuts for the conveyancing, this is how those outfits make up for it hrough hidden extras......have you gone cheap with the main fee?

And which lawyer - especially in this climate - thinks they can charge for sending enquiries. Actually many don't even send enquiries and - which even when acting on the other side for a seller I often find a scary thought as most contract packs have issues so you worry if they don't are they being thorough - raising enquiries is what a buyers lawyer does as part of the routine transaction.