HIPS and definition of 'SOLD'

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 properties actually need to be sold to avoid having a HIP.

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 (i.e. mortgage or AIP received, surveys done etc.), this will mean they will have to pay for a HIP to keep the property open to other buyers after January....

lynzpower

thanks ofr this courtjester, very interesting indeed.

lioncub

Thanks you - this clears up alot. now all I need is a definition of 'marketing'. ie. registered with an estate agent, ...

ginger_nuts

what are the advantages off HIPS

RHemmings

ginger_nuts wrote: »

what are the advantages off HIPS

In short, the advantages of HIPs is that a potential purchaser has more information about the property before they make an offer. Unfortunately, the current HIP with no detailed home condition report means that they still don't have enough money to avoid costly mistakes.

dnwilliams

My understanding, is that 'exchange of contracts' is the point where a hip is no longer required for pending sales from 1st Jan 2008.

CFC

ginger_nuts wrote: »

what are the advantages off HIPS

There are none for the buyer.
There are none for the seller.
All of the professionals associated with house sales and purchases are broadly against it, stating that there are no advantages, also quoting that it will slow down housing availability, and tend to push prices up even further. This in turn may lead to a hike in interest rates over the course of a period.

It creates a nice gravy train of jobs for Nu-labour with it's 'statist' tendencies and also over the years creates a government database of all housing. Some observers believe that labour is committed to it because of the latter reasoning. The government is committed to building up databases of people and properties (and nearly everything else possible) in the whole country. Makes people easier to control, and makes it easier to bring new taxes in.

Check out my sig.

malko

i cant see how HIPS dont benefit a buyer. Not everyone can spot damp problems, or structural movement and if a HIP points this out from the get go then it can save the buyer having it surveyed if these are the kind of things that would put them off

RHemmings

malko wrote: »

i cant see how HIPS dont benefit a buyer. Not everyone can spot damp problems, or structural movement and if a HIP points this out from the get go then it can save the buyer having it surveyed if these are the kind of things that would put them off

Clearly there is some benefit to the buyer if they learn more about the house than they otherwise would have done. But with the watered-down HIPs, the amount that buyer's learn isn't that much, and hence the benefit to the buyer is small. Not zero, that's just hyperbole. But small.

Imagine how much better it would be for buyers if they could see a property in an EAs window, go in, and see a full home condition report. Without spending any money. That would make the process much easier.

malko

RHemmings wrote: »

Clearly there is some benefit to the buyer if they learn more about the house than they otherwise would have done. But with the watered-down HIPs, the amount that buyer's learn isn't that much, and hence the benefit to the buyer is small. Not zero, that's just hyperbole. But small.

Imagine how much better it would be for buyers if they could see a property in an EAs window, go in, and see a full home condition report. Without spending any money. That would make the process much easier.

Very true. They should have introduced mandatory homebuyers reports that the sellers need to have done by an approved surveyor. Would cost less than the HIPs.

courtjester

lioncub wrote: »

Thanks you - this clears up alot. now all I need is a definition of 'marketing'. ie. registered with an estate agent, ...

Marketing is ANY form of advertising that the property is for sale - includes being with an agent, but it is not only that method.

If you take out private advertising, online advertising, put a for sale sign up or even put a hand-written notice in your front window, you are advertising to the public that the property is "on the market" - hence that is the definition of 'marketing' for the purposes of HIPS.

If you talk to a family member or friend and in that discussion agree to sell your property to them, or if someone approaches you out of the blue asking to buy, that is not 'on the market' (assuming there is no other form of advertising) and would not require a HIP.