HIPS Question

Doozergirl

mike_the_bike wrote: »

I've got a feeling the fine for not having a HIP is less than the cost of a HIP...Also there is a loop hole that you satisfy the law if you "apply" to have a HIP done before marketing the property..If you decide to cancel having the HIP done ..thats your business

.

You read the Telegraph article then? It's full of rubbish.

You must order a HIP in order to able to start marketing. It does not mean that you don't have to provide one. You are legally obliged to provide the buyer with the Energy Performance Certificate before exchange. Searches is less clear but I can guarantee that if they haven't been done then the buyer will looking for the vendor to pay for them! Why pay when you don't have to?

The fine, well, what's to say that you do'nt get another fine if you still haven't marketed? I doubt that Trading Standards would just say 'Oh right, just give us the £200 and be on your way, you scallywag!'

courtjester

When you order a hip you will either (1) pay for the HIP upfront or (2) sign a credit agreement allowing you to defer the cost until completion or cancellation of the sale whichever comes first.

Either way, you will have to pay for the HIP. You can't order a HIP without committing to pay for it... they are most definitely not 'no sale no fee' - don't confuse this with conveyancing offers.

The fine for non-compliance is not a one-off - it can be applied over and over for as long as you continue to breach the HIP requirements by marketing a property without the required HIP having been ordered or in place. So the suggestion that it's cheaper to pay the fine (as suggested by some media reports) is as usual for the press, ill-informed.

What is more likely is that private homeowners may well get away with not having a required HIP as the enforcement authority (Trading Standards) are unlikely to have enough people to enforce the regulations - they will be concentrating on estate agents, but because of the current confusion brought about by the mess that the government have made over implementing HIPS in stages for different property types and dates of marketing, even TS are probably not going to take things seriously until January 2008 - the date that all homes being up for sale will have to have a HIP.

The problem may surface at the point of conveyancing when the buyers solicitor asks for the relevant pack contents and EPC...

mike_the_bike_2

Something tells me we have a lot of trained or in training inspectors who have invested money in this scheme to fulfil "the dream" in this forum..good luck to you hope it works out for you...

Doozergirl

mike_the_bike wrote: »

Something tells me we have a lot of trained or in training inspectors who have invested money in this scheme to fulfil "the dream" in this forum..good luck to you hope it works out for you...

You don't like being wrong then? Just because you read a badly researched newspaper article doesn't make me a 'vested interest'. If you've read any of my posts then you'll know that I think that HIPs are a waste of time in their current format and that I was also on the radio last week saying that!

I've just pieced together my own HIP from scratch in order to save a bit on what is, currently, a complete waste of money. It was pretty hard to get the relevant information at the start and I've had to speak to a lot of people including the people at the Department of Communities a few times. That is how I know more than you do on this particular issue. :rolleyes:

HIPs are law now. You can't escape them.

courtjester

mike_t_bike,

Like Doozer, I have no vested interest in HIPS, I don't work for a HIPS supplier and I have nothing to do with HIPS home inspectors.

Like Doozer, I think HIPS (in their present form) are a total waste of time and money.

I *have* however conducted a lot of research on the subject of HIPS, so have some knowledge of the regulations and the implementation strategy adopted by the government. I have seen a lot of tosh expounded by ill-informed journalists who are only interested in selling papers and the same tosh distributed by those who believe everything they read in the papers.

You are right to be careful about information published on a public forum as certainly there are plenty of people here on MSE with axes to grind that publish responses for their own commercial benefit, but this is a self-help community and there are probably many more that genuinely intend to offer good advice and corrected factual information based on their own knowledge.