HIPs - I'm confused!

niklepic

We're about to put our house on the market but i'm really confused about HIPs. I've had a bit of a meander around t'internet but its just confused me more. Can anyone explain them to me in words that I'll actually understand?What do they contain and how are they put together?

Any help much appreciated.

MissMotivation

HIP's contain,amongst other things:-

1) Energy Performance Certificate, carried out by a Domestic Energy Assesor to determine how "energy efficient" a propery is, they give the property a grading between A and G, A being the most efficient and G being the least. The report also comments on work that can be done to make the property more energy efficient, how this impacts on the costs of bills etc and also if the work was done what grade it would eventually be

2) Local Searches, previously done by the Purchasers solicitor, these are now done by a conveyancer and form part of the pack

3) Evidence of title, to show who owns the property

There are other minor bits of info but these are the main points.

The packs are put together by a HIP provider, most EA's use a specific one or you can source them yourself.....it is usually cheaper this way.

The pack has to be applied for at the time of marketing the property. Packs can cost anywhere from £250 to £700.

Does this help?

niklepic

Certainly does. Re the house being energy efficient - is that things like double glazing, loft insulation and so on?

chriserenity

I have PMd you niclepic. In addition to what miss motivation has written,

The EPC also gives information about the carbon footprint of the property so an equivalent carbon score is also available. The EPC can be up to a year old by the time it goes into the pack.

The local searches are mandatory documents in the pack but are not necessarily done by a conveyancer. In alot of cases the searches will be done by the same person as did them before HIPs came in - the search provider. Either a dedicated search company or another entity. Its important to make sure the searches are insured and the insurance applies to all parties involved - the buyer, seller, conveyancers, mortgage brokers etc.

The evidence of Title is from the land registry and is pretty useful to the buyer as it shows what you paid for the property when you bought it - be aware!

The pack must be commissioned before the property can be marketed. A pack provider will usually issue you with some sort of order confirmation which you can show to an agent to prove the HIP is ordered. This is important in case trading standards take an interest in your agent. I have it on good authority they are having something of an enforcement drive this year to make sure agents are playing by the rules.

Regards,

niklepic

Thanks very much for your help - and your pm. Its all much clearer to me now - i knew i should have put it on the market in November then we wouldn't have needed one at all (two beds) :rolleyes: .

david29dpo

Doing your own HIP is very simple. There are plenty of EPC inspectors about who would charge about £100, the only thing you cant do yourself. Get a copy of the title plan and title register from the land registry, Local land enquiries from your council and water search from severn trent. The hip index and sale statement are freely available to fill in yourself.

pink_muppet

One other thing, the HIP itself only lasts for 12 months, so if you don't sell in that time you have to get a new one (or so my estate agent told me!)

chriserenity

pink_muppet wrote: »

One other thing, the HIP itself only lasts for 12 months, so if you don't sell in that time you have to get a new one (or so my estate agent told me!)

They are misinformed unfortunately. You can use the same HIP to market the property continuously for an indefinate amount of time as long as there is no break in marketing. Even if. The only restriction on time is that the EPC must be no older than 1 year when it goes in the pack and the searches must be no older than 3 months at this point.

In addition (taken from the government's HIP website):

• Where marketing stopped because the seller accepted an offer and wants to restart marketing because the sale has fallen through, provided that remarketing starts within one year of the date when marketing first began or, if later, within 28 days of the sale falling through.
• Where marketing has stopped for any other reason, the seller may remarket the property with the same Pack provided that remarketing starts within one year of the date when marketing first began.

chriserenity

david29dpo wrote: »

Doing your own HIP is very simple. There are plenty of EPC inspectors about who would charge about £100, the only thing you cant do yourself. Get a copy of the title plan and title register from the land registry, Local land enquiries from your council and water search from severn trent. The hip index and sale statement are freely available to fill in yourself.

Absolutely, people can compile thier own HIP and it is usually cheaper to do so. There are about 800 to 900 full time inspectors needed nationally at this time to fulfil demand but there are officially about 6000 ready to go with another 5000 or so on the way right behind them. Finding an EPC will not be a problem!

However, there are some issues with compiling yourself specifically regarding the searches. The searches that go into our packs are insured for up to £2m and covers all parties involved for peace of mind. Not all searches carry such insurance and if there is a problem it may be ambiguous who is liable! Secondly, many buyer's solicitors won't accept the searches if they are out of date (opinion on when this is seems to vary from 3 months to 9 months).

Out of date searches result in the buyer's solicitor having to pay again for something the seller should provide or in some cases the seller re-ordering the search which is a further cost. You can get HIPs that come with a free search renewal to cover this eventuality but please be aware that not all HIP providers do this particularly the cheap operators (generally).

You can get an official search from the local council but you can also pay a quality personal search company to do it. The water search may not necessarily be from severn trent. It will depend on who the the water authority is in your area. In mine for example its Yorkshire Water. DIY HIP forms are available for free as the previous poster said on the governmen't HIP website:
http://www.homeinformationpacks.gov.uk

EdInvestor

chriserenity wrote: »

Secondly, many buyer's solicitors won't accept the searches if they are out of date (opinion on when this is seems to vary from 3 months to 9 months).

I am surprised to hear they would accept them at all.Lenders have said they will not accept them. Or has this changed?

chriserenity

Well, regarding personal searches - a minority of solicitors didn't accept them even before HIPs came in and they still don't but I understand this minority is getting smaller. We haven't had any rejections yet and I haven't heard of any.

You are quite right in that the CML originally said they wouldn't accept HIP searches but the feedback we're getting is that there hasn't been a problem so far with solicitors accepting HIPs - why wouldn't they? The searches are done by the same people as did them before. There isn't anything materially different between a search in a HIP and a search ordered by the buyer's solicitor. I can't speak for all HIP providers but our searches are heavily insured to all parties including mortgage lenders so if there was a problem they would be covered.

Feedback also indicates HIP searches are better than normal ones as there is no wait on them from a user point of view. As soon as they are needed the searches are there.

Its the same with the other HIP docs. The land registry information in the HIP comes from the land registry regardless of whether its in the HIP or ordered independently by a solicitor. Its not materially different.