DIY HIP - worried about land search

Mistymaid

I just know I'm going to sound thick, but ...

The EPC part of the HIP requires a trained assessor to do it - so how come either the on-line firms are advertising HIP's through the net, or people are allowed DIY HIP's?

david29dpo

Good point but other than EPC and official searches, you can do the rest yourself.

Mistymaid

I'm in Scotland and we have Home Reports instead and as far as I'm aware they have to be done by a RICs member.

Just wondered how folk in England were managing the EPC because a large part of the charges incurred here are due to surveyors having to come to the properties to assess them and travelling to outlying areas can be difficult.

david29dpo

EPC men in england dont need to be RICs. There are so many in England they are falling over themselves for business which keeps prices down.

Mistymaid

Yes but I thought EPC assessors in England had to have a certificate to prove themselves qualified to assess the property, that still means they would have to visit the property to complete that part of the HIP? So how can the DIY one work?

david29dpo

Anyone who does a DIY HIP, still needs to use an EPC inspector, there cant do it themselves.

Mistymaid

Sorry David, this site is really playing me up on the page loading this morning.

So, when it comes to DIY HIP and the cost in England, if you either do it yourself or buy on line through one of those companies, you have to pay the associated costs and then pay more for an assessor to come out?

It's just that when I'm reading it costs £250 or whatever, I was presuming that was all in?

Richard_Webster

The cost will include the cost of the energy inspector coming out and providing the report. if you do it yourself you have to organise your own energy inspector, but that is not difficult.

Here is website you can use: http://www.localsurveyorsdirect.co.uk/energy_performance_certificate.aspx

As well as getting official copy Land Registry entries the other thing people sometimes get wrong is they try to do their own personal search by going round the Council offices collecting the information. This is not acceptable because it will not have insurance backing.

HIP companies can make mistakes in their HIPs. I have in front of me at the moment a HIP from SimplyHips where the sale statement shows the property as freehold. It is unregistered so the fact that the epitome of title contains a lease may not have got through to them, nor the fact that the seller in the PIQ says he pays a small annual ground rent. I suspect my client has not seen the HIP (others in a similar situation could have done), so he has probably not been confused by this - but the estate agents do not mention in their particulars that the house is leasehold, so he may have been confused by that.

Mistymaid

Thanks for clearing that up Richard.

Big differences to here in Scotland then. I'm livid. Living on one of the islands I don't have access to many different surveyors. So far one has quoted me £510 plus time plus travel and another £650 plus vat. It's unbelievable.

irisandalex

Interesting to hear people's experiences of DIY HIPs! Something I considered myself when I last sold a house.

I run the website trustedlocal.com, people use our website to get quotes for all kinds of jobs (including HIPs) from local independant providers/traders across the country.

I've had a look through some of our recent HIP quote requests. Most of the quotes seem to come back at a similar level to the DIY charges, i.e. two hundred and something odd pounds. So this would seem to backup what others have said.

Worth noting though that costs to vary across the country, partly due to the search costs varying between different local authorities.

I know from talking to HIP providers registered with us, there is little margin in the work. Plus they get discounts on the searches compared to what members of the public might get.