HIPs - home information packs

Canucklehead

EdInvestor: You're absolutely correct! The Government could legislate your scenario... I don't think the OH would be interested as he prefers being on the tools to being on the paper trail...but it is something I might consider...form filling is something I excelled at when I was at the chalkface;) and it does tie in with my Masters..watch this space.

Canucklehead

peachespeaches

As a first time buyer, I cant figure out if its better to buy before HIPs are necessary or after. In terms of purchase price, for instance, will there be lots of properties on the market before June, trying to get in before the deadline, therefore given the choice of properties, prices might not bid up as high. After June if less properties come on the market, will they be more expensive?

Richard_Webster

lynzpower wrote: »

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?

Trouble is that unless you know what you are looking at in terms of the legal stuff, you might think everything is wonderful until a week or two later your solicitor reads the lease and tells you it is defective...By that time you've spent money on a mortgage application fee etc.

This happens at the moment, I know, but the government are saying a HIP will IMPROVE the process and enable quick decisions etc to be made - only if you have done a course in conveyancing so you can recognise a defective lease when you see one......

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

djm1972

Richard_Webster wrote: »

Trouble is that unless you know what you are looking at in terms of the legal stuff, you might think everything is wonderful until a week or two later your solicitor reads the lease and tells you it is defective...By that time you've spent money on a mortgage application fee etc.

This happens at the moment, I know, but the government are saying a HIP will IMPROVE the process and enable quick decisions etc to be made - only if you have done a course in conveyancing so you can recognise a defective lease when you see one......

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

But the trouble is, Richard; nobody except Solicitors cares about the legal stuff. All we want is the house that we've set our heart on.

Now I know that a solicitor's response to this is that you have to make absolutely microscopically certain of everything to protect your buyer's interests; but in reality this process is causing massive holdups resulting in people pulling out when there is an equally microscopically small chance of there ever being a problem.

I am currently in the absolutely ridiculous situation of being in the middle of a simple chain of three, a first time buyer buying my 7 year old Barratt flat, and me buying a not much older modern freehold house on a new development. These are modern properties, on new developments that were all part of the town plan. There is absolutely NO WAY that there is going to be any planning issues with either of them. We all want to just get on with it; but we can't because solicitors want to see planning permissions that relate to things like where the builders put their temporary canteen on the site during construction. Now you tell me that's not a messed up system!

courtjester

Richard_Webster wrote: »

... but the government are saying a HIP will IMPROVE the process and enable quick decisions etc to be made ...

Ah, well that's the spin they have always put on it - the real story is that HIPS are only about the energy report, always have been - to satisfy EU directives. It's just that the government didn't want to pay for the survey programme, so invented HIPS to cover it under the smokescreen of 'improving the process'.

And now (thanks to all the fuss about climate change), they can finally bring the energy report out of the closet and claim the credit for their foresight by giving it prime position in the pack - I believe it will be the first section of the HIP.