HIPs - home information packs

tonydee

I can see both the pros and cons for hips but at the end of the day it's coming in and is here to stay. It's a EU directive afterall.

There will be some obvious delays initially but I envisage once these have been ironed out the whole hip will be part and parcel of buying/selling houses which will continue as normal.

bunnydrumming

stevie_wonder wrote: »

Basically I'm screwed then unless I manage to sell and buy before June then!
Better get my skates on!;)

As long as your home is on the market before 1st June and sold before March 08 you will not need an HIP.

BobProperty

tonydee wrote: »

I can see both the pros and cons for hips but at the end of the day it's coming in and is here to stay. It's a EU directive afterall.

Only the energy assessment is an EU directive, the rest is government inspired BS, data collection and VAT revenue raising.

tonydee wrote: »

There will be some obvious delays initially but I envisage once these have been ironed out the whole hip will be part and parcel of buying/selling houses which will continue as normal.

I read an article by someone who, having come up with some figures, believes it will almost never work as there aren't enough inspectors and the backlog of inspections needed will grow faster than the number of inspectors available. This will result in a backlog of property waiting to go on the market which can't be marketed, so the whole market will grind to a halt. (and the easy way round it is paying more for the HIP inspector to do your HIP before others - nice bit of market forces at work )
edited to add:
Alternatively, everyone will market their property anyway and take the chance on the fine. If they get caught they will produce some paperwork which "proves" they sold it the first day it came on the market. So plead guilty, max fine £200, cheaper than a HIP report

Rick62

tonydee wrote: »

I can see both the pros and cons for hips but at the end of the day it's coming in and is here to stay. It's a EU directive afterall.

There will be some obvious delays initially but I envisage once these have been ironed out the whole hip will be part and parcel of buying/selling houses which will continue as normal.

Could you please point out the pros, because I can't see any.

The liquidity in the housing market has already been nearly destroyed by stamp duty fees, HIPs will just finish the job.

Richard_Webster

Could you please point out the pros, because I can't see any.

Ask the Governement and the Consumers Association who thought it would usher a bright new dawn of quick house buying!

AS A SELLER :
1. You will have to pay for a Pack (average cost £500) before you can put your home on the market from June 1st this year.
2. You, or your agent, will be a law-breaker liable to a daily fine of £200/500 if caught trying to sell your home without a Pack, or for the first 14 days if your Pack is ordered but hasn't arrived (this means no advert, no board, no flyers not even a chat in the pub).
3. A new Jobsworth has been created by Labour, called an "Energy Inspector" who will visit your home at your cost, but before you are allowed to market it. The Inspector will prepare an Energy Performance Certificate by poking around your home from basement to loft, ostensibly assessing your home's 'green credentials' . This EPC report will be put in to your Home Information Pack. Remember - no Pack, no marketing.
4. The 8 page EPC report on your home (that you've paid for) along with legal information about you and your home, will be centrally recorded by government and will be available for inspection electronically by goodness knows who, for goodness knows what purposes.
5. If your Home Information Pack (HIP) doesn't arrive for 14 days (perhaps because of lack of Energy Inspectors countrywide) and you have therefore been unable to market your home, you may lose the next property you wished to buy. If you lose it, there will be no refund of your HIP costs AND the government will keep all the details on you and your home that you have paid for, on their database.


AS A BUYER:

1. The arrival of Home Information Packs is likely to reduce the choice of properties on the market by 30% as sellers won't risk the loss of the cost of a HIP just to 'dip their toe in the water'. Reduced stock could mean increased prices.
2. When you look at the HIP on the house you're interested in making an offer on (if you can be bothered) it may not have legal searches in, or even details of leaseholds as these can take weeks to arrive, so what help will it be?
3. The government think the Energy Performance Certificate within the HIP, which will tell you things like "if you buy a new boiler for £3000, it'll save you £42 a year in running costs" is important to your decision-making, and that you are at a disadvantage without the report. Will you agree when you wade through 100 pages of a full HIP, when all you want to do it secure your purchase?
4. Your solicitors and your mortgage lender will tell you they still want you to pay for a mortgage valuation survey and up-to-date searches because the vendor's HIP is no use to them as the contents cannot be relied upon. Thus it has saved you 'not one penny'.
5. Of course, you may not even have your offer accepted on your proposed purchase anyway, because you haven't got a HIP on your own house yet. Remember, you can't start marketing yours for 14 days without your own HIP unless you break the law. Chains will become even more of a problem with the advent of HIPs, and sellers may prefer buyers with 'nothing to sell'

I broadly agree with the above. The Governement never really understood that chains are the biggest cause of delay in the house-moving process and none of this has done anything at all about chains.

As a conveyancing solicitor I believe the information given in the post to be useful but I accept no liability except to fee-paying client

Gorgeous_George

I can tax my car online. The DVLA computer checks my insurance and MOT details in seconds. Why is not possible for house buying to be done in a similar way?

Local searches, mortgage applications, there can't be much that couldn't be done electronically.



GG

rizla01

So if I buy my brothers house is he STILL going to need a HIP before selling to me?

In other words won't there be a method of buying 'As Is' if you choose so to do?

Otherwise, this is just more Big Brother tactics from this bent Goverment.

thesaint

Has anyone got a link to the daily fine of £200-£500, I understood it to be a one off.

rebeccaj

thesaint wrote: »

Has anyone got a link to the daily fine of £200-£500, I understood it to be a one off.

it's mentioned on these pages http://www.realestatetv.tv/content/news/news.php?news=17130166 and http://www.lse.co.uk/ShowStory.asp?story=HC97689Y&news_headline=10_things_you_didnt_know_about_home_information_packs

but even though June isn't far away, there doesn't seem to be any official line on this confirmed anywhere yet!

It does seem a bit daft (on their behalf) if it is once off £200, because if a HIP costs £400 to get but a fine only costs £200 if you don't have one, then the answer to the problem is a bit of a no brainer really!

rizla01

You, or your agent, will be a law-breaker liable to a daily fine of £200/500 if caught trying to sell your home without a Pack, or for the first 14 days if your Pack is ordered but hasn't arrived (this means no advert, no board, no flyers not even a chat in the pub).