Finally - the end of HIPs

DVardysShadow

<sebb> wrote: »

I actually thought they could have been quite useful, if I thought I could rely on any of it.

As it were, if my seller had bothered to actually tell the truth on his PIQ then I wouldn't now be down £1000 in fees and still no flat.

As it were, he lied about the council tax banding, said there was allocated parking when in fact there was no parking and no possibility of getting a permit to park there EVER, claimed to have got building regs and planning permission for major works that I later found out was lies. If he'd told the truth on the PIQ about those things I would never have got as far as appointing the solicitor on that purchase.

Ah, this is where the HIP could be good for you. It would be ground breaking, but you might have enough to be able to win against your vendor in the small claims court for your fees.

alanmilstein

vet8 wrote: »

I have read that the vast majority of buyers never even look at these HIPs. It is something like 90 % of them are never even opened, so they are a waste of time and money.

The theory is good, but they just never seemed to be the right thing.

It may be the case that BUYERS don't look at HIPs, but you can be sure that their solicitors do!
Solicitors are quite happy to rely on the searches in a HIP and in most cases have used them to save the buyer the cost of paying for searches. In fact, in most transactions these days, the very first thing the buying solicitor does is to ask for the HIP from the sellers.
The biggest winners with HIPs, however, are first time buyers - nothing to sell so no HIP cost, but free searches on their purchase!
So, great, scrap HIPs and make the most vulnerable pay more! That's progress?
As for the HIP delaying the process of putting a property on the market, this is completely and totally NOT the case.
When my company are asked to prepare a HIP then we normally have the "core" documents (the ones needed for marketing to legally start) ready within 24 hours. In almost every case this is well before the estate agent has prepared the proerty details. So, the argument about delays is not really valid.
Although I'm a HIP provider I'm not a great fan of them in their present form, however they are a base from which reform of our cumbersome house buying process could be launched.
The Conservatives and Lib Dems are not getting rid of HIPs because they are bad, it is simple political dogma. If improving the house buying process were the objective then they would be looking to develop HIPs and not scrap them.

alanmilstein

<sebb> wrote: »

I actually thought they could have been quite useful, if I thought I could rely on any of it.

As it were, if my seller had bothered to actually tell the truth on his PIQ then I wouldn't now be down £1000 in fees and still no flat.

As it were, he lied about the council tax banding, said there was allocated parking when in fact there was no parking and no possibility of getting a permit to park there EVER, claimed to have got building regs and planning permission for major works that I later found out was lies. If he'd told the truth on the PIQ about those things I would never have got as far as appointing the solicitor on that purchase.

Unfortunately it doesn't matter what processes are in place, if someone is going to tell lies then that's what they'll do.
The PIQ is only a simple set of questions and far, far less in-depth than the Property Information Forms that the sellers solicitor will ask them to complete, and which will be provided to the buyers solicitor well before any exchange of contracts.
In the case you mention, the HIP on the flat being sold should also have contained a copy of the lease (assuming it's a leasehold flat). The lease would indicate whether there was a parking place with the flat, so even if the PIQ was wrong it should have been relatively easy to spot.
And there's another good reason for HIPs - it gets a copy of the lease in front of the buyer of a leasehold property at a very early stage so you can see what special terms or restrictions might apply.

not_loaded

alanmilstein wrote: »

In most cases the solicitor for the purchaser of a property would make use of the searches, so saving the buyer from paying for them....

Once the HIP is a few months old, maybe less, a good sol would re-do the searches.

sheffield_lad

I have posted this on a couple of threads, there has to be a 100 day consultation period before the HIP can be removed from the statute book meaning if there is no announcement before the summer recess HIP's will be with us until the end of 2010

Eric1

alanmilstein wrote: »

Solicitors are quite happy to rely on the searches in a HIP and in most cases have used them to save the buyer the cost of paying for searches.

No thanks, false economy. As a buyer, I prefer solicitors who are not happy to rely on all HIP searches. One told me that personal local authority searches (cheaper for sellers) are not always accurate.

Evee2000

howee wrote: »

I have posted this on a couple of threads, there has to be a 100 day consultation period before the HIP can be removed from the statute book meaning if there is no announcement before the summer recess HIP's will be with us until the end of 2010

I thought the Housing Act 2004 allowed for the immediate suspension of HIPs (section 162), by the secretary of state? It was a concession to the House of Lords back in 2008.

tonytee

Maybe the Tories saying they will scrap HIP's was just a way to get more votes. Maybe HIP's wont be scrapped after all. It wouldnt be the first time we were told lies to get votes.

Personally I cant see the government putting so many companies out of business causing them loss of money. I have just completed a domestic energy assessor course and will start providing EPC's so I have a vested interest in this.

LE3

As a buyer, I found HIPS really useful! Not only did they show that the seller was serious about selling (ie they paid some money to get the HIP!) but the HIP contained info that helped me to decide whether I wnated to proceed to the spending-money stage of surveys/searches etc of my own.
It gave me info on things like drains (the property is the 6th down the run of private sewer before you get to the mains - is this likely to cause issues in future? How much would I be responsible for if the idiot up the sewer run starts flushing wipes/pouring fat down the drain?), local authority boundaries (how else would I have ever known that the property sat right on the boundary thus searches in both would be needed) - even things like knowing that the double glazing was changed 6 yrs ago is important & whilst you can ask questions, there's nothing like having the answers written down ...

I have read the HIP for several properties, offered on 2 (both of which were accepted, I withdrew my offer on one after survey showed some issues I wasn't happy with)
I did not even go for a 2nd viewing on several properties I read the HIP for as they raised something I was not so comfortable with!

poppysarah

HIPs on their way out.

http://www.introducertoday.co.uk/News/Story/?storyid=2963&title=Order_to_suspend_HIPs_is_signed&type=news_features


An order to suspend HIPs has been signed, with the announcement of a suspension due this week as Parliament convenes.