HIPs - home information packs

EdInvestor

The trouble is that if the searches are old, the same problem will crop up as with the survey - the lenders won't accept them because something might have changed.

If the only thing that's really required is the energy certificate, why don't they just drop the rest and let the Corgi people provide the certificate? It's part of their qualifications I gather. Shouldn't cost more than around 50 quid, much as the same as an annual gas inspection for a BTL ( not that a BTL needs a HIP if it's got tenants in it, I hear... )?

BobProperty

lynzpower wrote: »

i think the good thing for the market is that if all the searches are back on the property before it goes on the market, basically the only thing that there will need to be done is the survey and getting the mortgage offer back.
Solicitors wil no longer be awaiting various reports., bits of paper, preassignment packs and so forth. SOlicitors will in terms of the sale, have everything infront of them aside from the mortgage offer.

As I understand it, I see a flat, I can look at the searches etc immieduiately & decide will I make an offer? it means those sales of homes by a proposed dual carriageway or on reclaimed sites I can make a deicision striaght away- not pull out of the sale later on down the line

then I make an offer, survey then the mortgage offer comes through and surely then its just a case of exchangeing contracts with a completion date in mind? Nothing else is there?

Id imagine then we could be looking at the actual SALE being rather quick compared to how it is now? I would imagine you could look to exchange being done in around a month? Wouldnt it?

The problem is that the overall time doesn't change. I decide to sell my leasehold flat. I will in future have to wait for the leasehold info off the freeholder (took about 6-8 weeks to get hold of it), the search info (x weeks where x is usually a lot greater than 2) and get a HIP created (x weeks waiting for a HIP inspector - there's not enough of them remember?). Now I can market it and sell it, but there's nothing in there that has speeded up the overall process. It gets slowed down again in 3 or 6 months when the searches are no longer valid as far as some solicitor or lender is concerned and they have to be re-done.

Canucklehead

Good morning: A CORGI installer cannot provide an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) unless she/he holds a Domestic Energy Assessor qualification such as this http://www.energyinspectorsdirect.com/ I would suggest that very few have this qualification or would be tempted to lay out even more cash and time to obtain it. My OH, Corgi Guy, will stick to gas and plumbing.

HTH

Canucklehead

lotto-dreamer

BobProperty wrote: »

.....gets slowed down again in 3 or 6 months when the searches are no longer valid as far as some solicitor or lender is concerned and they have to be re-done.

Not sure if search indemnity insurance (for out of date searches) will be acceptable but it could potentially overcome this aspect. Premium is usually around £28-£35.

However, the most frequent hold up is usually that somewhere down the chain the mortgage offer hasn't been received -or needs to be revised- which is not a HIPS issue at all and can cause considerable delays.

Once a property has been sold with a HIPS pack - the next time it sells will it be a bit quicker and cheaper and only need updating where relevant? Anyone know?

MegS

We've dealt with a couple of properties who are being marketed in the trialling area - it has changed nothing about the work we're doing. My boss got a 100 page report on our clients' sale and still had to send them property information forms etc etc and on our clients' purchase we still have to do all the searches. A complete waste of time, effort and money. We're two months away from this so-called saviour of property transactions and they still haven't agreed on what is and isn't going to be in them and the lenders still haven't agreed on what they will accept. So much for making life easier.

EdInvestor

Canucklehead wrote: »

Good morning: A CORGI installer cannot provide an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) unless she/he holds a Domestic Energy Assessor qualification such as this http://www.energyinspectorsdirect.com/ I would suggest that very few have this qualification or would be tempted to lay out even more cash and time to obtain it. My OH, Corgi Guy, will stick to gas and plumbing.

I understand that if you hold this qualification:

http://www.centralheating.co.uk/index.php?fuseaction=site.articleDetail&con_id=5604

C&G Energy Efficiency level 3

you would be regarded as qualified.

However there may be as yet no arrangments for accreditation as the Govt is still sticking to HIPs plan B, which has yet to collapse in disarray :rolleyes:

No doubt its time will come.

BobProperty

lotto-dreamer wrote: »

Not sure if search indemnity insurance (for out of date searches) will be acceptable but it could potentially overcome this aspect. Premium is usually around £28-£35.

Surely it won't be acceptable as, unless the government has cocked-up the wording of the rules, it will have to contain an up to date search. Otherwise everyone would just offer indemnity insurance as it would be quicker to arrange than getting a search back.

lotto-dreamer wrote: »

Once a property has been sold with a HIPS pack - the next time it sells will it be a bit quicker and cheaper and only need updating where relevant? Anyone know?

Unlikely. You will need a new energy assessment and new searches at least. The leasehold info may not have changed, but most of the HIP will need revising. Plus if you were a HIP inspector are you going to rely on what someone else did previously?

Canucklehead

EdInvestor: My OH has the qualification (requirement for CORGI installers) but cannot provide an EPC. Further details on accreditation process are available here http://www.homeinformationpacks.gov.uk/energy_scheme.aspx
at the moment the whole thing seems to be a can of worms :eek: (but will make a good topic for my next MSc essay).

Canucklehead

lynzpower

BobProperty wrote: »

The problem is that the overall time doesn't change. I decide to sell my leasehold flat. I will in future have to wait for the leasehold info off the freeholder (took about 6-8 weeks to get hold of it), the search info (x weeks where x is usually a lot greater than 2) and get a HIP created (x weeks waiting for a HIP inspector - there's not enough of them remember?). Now I can market it and sell it, but there's nothing in there that has speeded up the overall process. It gets slowed down again in 3 or 6 months when the searches are no longer valid as far as some solicitor or lender is concerned and they have to be re-done.

I agree with you certainly, it wont speed up the "whole" process.

One thing we often say to our vendors who live in ex-local authority properties is " as soon as youve decided to sell, even if you are not going to put it on the market for a few weeks , apply for your preassignment pack from the local authority NOW, as this takes the longest"

Most of US here would be considering selling for a good few weeks before it actually instructs an agent/ markets privately. While Im giving my place a lick of paint and sorting it out prior to sale, I can apply for my HIP

I think we are all presuming that these searches wont be valid. I disagree, I think the lenders will accept them. Otherwise there will be carnage.

I still think though this will increase repos at least in the short- medium term. If someone cant pay their mortgage, and wishes to sell up , will they be able to afford a hip ( i guess this depends on whether the EA will be including the hip in fees) ? Will they be able to wait as long as a hip might take? Probalby not - hence rise in repos.

Will banks who have repo'd have to provide hips- I expect so- I can see this in particular taking a good while

What bothers me the most is that here we are in almost April, due to come in in less than 10 weeks and NO ONE really seems to know whats going to happen. We are getting an increasing number of calls asking about hips at work at the mo and how this will affect people wanting to sell. Our response is, we still dont know , but you might want to sell NOW to miss them. Weve had no training on it yet, as the finer details (!) havent been resolved, so theres no point in commisioning training until somoene knows what to train us in.

I sold my flat ( completed in jan) to miss them, and I recommend to others to do the same if they are worried

EdInvestor

Canucklehead wrote: »

EdInvestor: My OH has the qualification (requirement for CORGI installers) but cannot provide an EPC. Further details on accreditation process are available here http://www.homeinformationpacks.gov.uk/energy_scheme.aspx
at the moment the whole thing seems to be a can of worms

Presumably however if the Govt wanted to, it could just decide that any qualified Corgi bod was automatically qualified to provide an EPC, in which case much of the basic problem underlying this could be solved quite quickly ( assuming Corgi bods would be happy to do the work).

Would your OH be happy to do it, if this happened?And roughly what sort of fee might he charge?Given that most property gets sold in Spring-summer-autumn, I guess a bit of this work might be quite welcome as these are the quieter months?