Home Information Packs to cover all properties from 14th December, 2007

chartreuse_2

chriserenity wrote: »

Top notch post on the HIP excluded properties worldtraveller!

Regarding 1&2 bed properties marketed prior to 14th December you were correct in assuming the same rules apply as with larger properties. A HIP will not be required as long as there is no break in marketing up to a point. This point or 'drop dead date' has not yet been announced.

So, if I was planning on selling next year, say spring or summer, I could stick up a free listing on one of those websites, eg http://housenet.co.uk/ (which would run for 6 months) before the 14th Dec.

Then, so long as I kept the ad live, any future listings next year (eg with an estate agent or another website) would just be additional marketing for a house that had been continuously marketed since before the requirement - and I wouldn't need a HIP. At least until the 'drop dead date' anyway.

Am I missing something, or is it really that easy?

worldtraveller

chartreuse wrote: »

So, if I was planning on selling next year, say spring or summer, I could stick up a free listing on one of those websites, eg http://housenet.co.uk/ (which would run for 6 months) before the 14th Dec.

Then, so long as I kept the ad live, any future listings next year (eg with an estate agent or another website) would just be additional marketing for a house that had been continuously marketed since before the requirement - and I wouldn't need a HIP. At least until the 'drop dead date' anyway.

Am I missing something, or is it really that easy?

As you and chriserenity state, there will ultimately be a "drop dead" point. According to the Hip website "The exemption will apply for as long as marketing continues but the Government may appoint a date at which all properties on the market will be subject to the HIP duties, regardless of when they were first marketed."

You pays your money (or not!) and you takes your choice!

chriserenity

chartreuse wrote: »

So, if I was planning on selling next year, say spring or summer, I could stick up a free listing on one of those websites, eg http://housenet.co.uk/ (which would run for 6 months) before the 14th Dec.

Then, so long as I kept the ad live, any future listings next year (eg with an estate agent or another website) would just be additional marketing for a house that had been continuously marketed since before the requirement - and I wouldn't need a HIP. At least until the 'drop dead date' anyway.

Am I missing something, or is it really that easy?

Well, what is your ultimate goal, avoiding the cost of a HIP (300 pounds ish) or selling your house?

As an estate agent told me recently "theres nothing like a picture of a snow covered house on display in July to encourage the buyer". You catch my drift?

Like I said before, I'm not an estate agent but ask yourself "will the short term saving of avoiding the HIP really save you money over the course of the sale?"

chartreuse_2

chriserenity wrote: »

Well, what is your ultimate goal, avoiding the cost of a HIP (300 pounds ish) or selling your house?

As an estate agent told me recently "theres nothing like a picture of a snow covered house on display in July to encourage the buyer". You catch my drift?

That's a very fair question. Of course, the real goal would be selling the house, but an opportunity to save £300 is an opportunity to save £300.

So, what we're really discussing is whether buyers might be put off by being told "We don't need a HIP 'cos there was a loophole where if you stuck your house on an obscure website last year you could get away without it."

I think that most serious buyers would accept that, especially if a lot of people did it, but if it proved not to be the case, I could always get a HIP then.

Of course, lots of people doing this might encourage the govt to bring forward the 'drop dead date'. As far as I can see, though, I don't think there's anything to lose by trying it, other than a few minutes of my time typing up a listing.

otter1_2

I don't see what the big deal is about spending a few hundred quid when the sale of the house is going to net 500-1000 times that amount!

Why should umpteen buyers pay fees to cash-hungry professionals repeatedly on the same property, when by getting the seller to do it, the exercise only has to be gone through once? I don't think HIPs go far enough..

fimonkey

From a personal perspective, I've been called three times toady from EA's who have new 1/2 bed properties on their books that have come on today.. all are vacant possession, all have a 'clause' in the the owner cannot complete on the purchase until after April 08 but if I was interested the owner would 'do a deal' whereby contracts are exchanged sooner and I live rent free in the properties..... So this is clearly BTL's who want out of the game now, want to save themselves £300 on the HIP, but also want to benefit from the new CGT laws in April... My thinking is that if they are offering rent free in the property from exchange to completion, that would cost them more than the HIP surely (though properties currently not tenanted so suppose they're loosing out there) but it does make me wonder what's wrong with th eproprty if they aren't willing to get a HIP.

What do others think, I expect a lot of BTL's will be following this route.

chartreuse_2

otter1 wrote: »

Why should umpteen buyers pay fees to cash-hungry professionals repeatedly on the same property, when by getting the seller to do it, the exercise only has to be gone through once? I don't think HIPs go far enough..

The problem (apart from the obvious one, that most sellers are also buyers) is that regardless of how much money a seller wastes on a HIP, the buyer will still have to pay again to get most of the same work (searches etc) done again by their solicitor. This is because their lender won't accept the documents provided by the seller as part of the HIP.

otter1_2

chartreuse wrote: »

The problem (apart from the obvious one, that most sellers are also buyers) is that regardless of how much money a seller wastes on a HIP, the buyer will still have to pay again to get most of the same work (searches etc) done again by their solicitor. This is because their lender won't accept the documents provided by the seller as part of the HIP.

I was afraid you might say that. There's nothing like an integrated system to help everyone get things done cheaply and efficiently, is there? :rolleyes:

LuciferTDark

I know these things are only for people trying to sell their house but how long till the Government has the "bright" idea to force everyone to fill one in?

chriserenity

otter1 wrote: »

I don't see what the big deal is about spending a few hundred quid when the sale of the house is going to net 500-1000 times that amount!

Why should umpteen buyers pay fees to cash-hungry professionals repeatedly on the same property, when by getting the seller to do it, the exercise only has to be gone through once? I don't think HIPs go far enough..

Well, the government has said that HIPs are not their 'end game' for the property market, rather that they are the first in a sequence they have planned. Not sure quite what they are. Fun and games to come I guess.