Home Information Packs (HIPs)

lioncub

Please could anyone tell me about these packs. An estate agent said that before June 1st, we do not need one of these packs. Does the house have to be sold prior to this date or just up for sale? What constituents 'a sale' Exchange of contracts or purely an offer on the house? What can I do to avoid a HIP?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

IHateDida

You need to get your house on the market before June the 1st but have until sometime in December to sell it before needing by law to get a HIP. I am getting ready to sell my house next week because of this!!!!

tonydee

Please also use the search feature of the forum. Lots and lots of threads full of information about HIPs.

Good luck

courtjester

Property already on the market before the HIPS introduction date of 1 June 2007 will not require a HIP until 1 January 2008 - hence if the property is sold by then, no additional cost will be incurred.

It's an interesting point as to what constitutes 'SOLD' for the purposes of the January end-stop date - I would imagine this is exchange of contracts as the phrase 'sold' much used and abused by estate agents, actually has no legal standing and needs to be qualifed on for sale signs as "Sold Subject to Contract" - which effectively means:

"...it's sold, but it might not really be sold because nothing's actually been signed and agreed yet and it could all go belly up, but it makes us agents look as though we're doing something so it's good for marketing..." :cool:

So it looks like the usual rush to exchange and complete before Christmas might get even more emphasis come December when people in the process of negotiating offers realise that if they don't get the dates screwed down, they could be in for a last minute compulsory HIP bill.

courtjester

Dug around a little as to what defines 'sold by' for the purposes of the HIPS end of grace period deadline 31 December 2007... it doesn't look like any definition of 'SOLD' is required.

The HIPS regulations seem to refer only to 'marketing' of the property. So although legally a property is not sold until there is a binding agreement to sell (i.e exchange of contracts in England & Wales), that is not necessarily relevant to whether you need a HIP or not if you have had the property on the market prior to 1 June 2007 and still not exchanged contracts as at 1 January 2008.

The key element is that after 1 Jan 2008, all properties *being marketed* will require a HIP. So providing the property is not being marketed, it doesn't seem to matter that the property is not "sold".

This will potentially add weight to many buyers requests that a property is 'taken off the market' after an offer is accepted, where there is no legal obligation to do so. For vendors who do not wish to commit to a particular buyer until later in the process, this will mean they will have to pay for a HIP to keep the property open to other buyers after January....