HIP should we get one anyway?

worrypants

Our property is going on the market this week

Any advice about Home Information Packs greatly appreciated.

My first question is are they definitly going to universally accepted by all lenders? If this is the case then it will negate the need for chasing up local authorities to ask have you got my buyers search request, when are you completing it, when will it be with my buyers solicitor etc etc ( believe me I always do this and most Local Authorities are very helpful, bought and sold 14 times!)
Also in theory it should speed up things or am I living in cloud cuckoo land?
Cant be doing with buyers and or buyers solicitors who take every thing very slowly step by step eg get the mortgage offer before even sending for searches instead of doing the both at the time of the full mortgage application.

Anyway I am going off at a tangent!
My second question is - should we get a HIP for our house even though not required until August 1st
Had a quote for £289 which is a small price to pay ( in my view) to ensure that the waiting for searches bit is out of the way throughout the agonising sale process.

Many thanks all

tonydee

I wouldn't worry about it yet. In my opinion there are still far too many grey areas and chances are the start date will be put back again. You may have sold by the time they eventually come out

Good luck

Doozergirl

If you are buying a house and have to have searches carried out then you're paying out twice. You won't be speeding up the process as the chain still takes as long as the weakest link. If one person needs to carry out searches, your efforts were pointless.

worrypants

good point however there is likely to be a gap for us between sale and purchase
most impotant thing is to complete the sale we will worry about purchase as a seperate issue
not bothered about the searches on the purchase as they will be within my control eg will be sent for day offer is accepted and I will be be checking and chasing the local authority etc etc etc

new property would likely have an HIP anyway as it could take months to sell

nothing I can do about any possible chain below me but I would be very very reluctant to accept an offer from someone in chain who has not reached the point of a survey and searches applied for on their own property and any that might be below them otherwise their offer can't be deemed as proceedable in my view

would love some advice as the if HIPs are going to be acceptable for lenders universally
many thanks all

thesaint

worrypants wrote: »

<snip>
would love some advice as the if HIPs are going to be acceptable for lenders universally
many thanks all

Lenders won't decide until the government have let everyone know what exactly is on the table.

courtjester

worrypants wrote: »

new property would likely have an HIP anyway as it could take months to sell

This is only relevant if you are still marketing after 1 January 2008 - property already on the market at the HIPS introduction date of 1 August will NOT need to have a HIP as the grace period built into the regulations for existing sales is up until 31 December 2007.

Any searches contained in the HIP will be acceptable to most if not all lenders - it would be up to the buyer or their solicitors as to whether they felt it necessary to commission their own so there is no guarantee that having searches done in advance would save time.

My view would be don't bother getting a HIP until you are required to - the law is subject to change and there is the slim but real possibility that they may be abandoned completely.

There are some suggestions that as the only critical element from the government's point of view is the energy report (to comply with EU requirements) then it may come down to just having to supply an energy report within the conveyancing papers at completion, which would be far more sensible than the current 'advance information' HIPS pack fiasco.

worrypants

many thanks really useful info, shall not bother for now then