HIPs: what are they good for...................

penrhyn

Selling a property at the moment and have been forced to buy a HIP, £299 +VAT.
The man came round and did his energy survey, measured the walls, counted the windows looked in the loft and checked the boiler. Nothing that a prospective buyer could easily do on a viewing. It will show you the actual and potential running costs and carbon footprint. Who gives a damn, certainly not any of the dozen or so people who have been round to view so far.
So who benefits? It strikes me that its no more than a sales tax come job creation scheme.
Or maybe Big Brother wants to know even more about the homes we live in, motive taxation.

ryandj

penrhyn wrote: »

So who benefits? It strikes me that its no more than a sales tax come job creation scheme.
Or maybe Big Brother wants to know even more about the homes we live in, motive taxation.

You are right there I think.

Or perhaps they are intending to re-introduce the popular window tax of the 17th and 18th centuries.

I think originally they were meant to be a bit more comrehensive, and were going to include all the surveys that you would normally have to get don as well, thus saving time. Unfortunately these did not get included in the final HIP.

Jennifer_Jane

Yes, it was never going to work. Here's a petition against HIPs:

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Scrap-HIPs/

Regards
Jen
x

lynzpower

I disagree totally.

You are focusing ONLY on one part of the Hip, the EPC.

Are you not buying anywhere else? the hip helps prospective buyers in advance of them spending any money on surveys. The hip will tell of planning objectives ( if they imping) all your local searches, and lease length and service charges.

If you are selling to rent then fair dos, but most sell to buy something else.

When YOU are the buyer ( in the chain) youll benefit from the HIP as they are there at first glance as soon as you go into the EA, you can read the HIP before you even bother to nose around someones gaff

Richard_Webster

The government started off thinking they were improving the house selling process but then changed to encouraging everyone to have a more energy efficient proeprty. the whole business is a classic case of a scheme getting its own momentum (a load of HIP providers with nothing else to do!) and not being stoppable. Now it really does very little because hardly any buyers look at the HIP.

If they feel that they must have Energy certificates (the only new thing) then they could be required before a purchase was registered at the Land Registry, which would mean a buyer would want to see it before exchange of contracts (to make sure it wasn't really dire and to make sure it existed so he could be registered.)

The only minor benefit is that the buyer's solicitor gets to see the local search earlier than he would have done and also the drainage/water search, which although useful in some cases, in a lot of situations is really not critical to a purchase proceeding or not.

Gorgeous_George

HIPs: what are they good for...................

....absolutely nothing.

I can feel a song coming on Martin.

To be fair, they will keep otherwise unemployable muppets and some very nice people off the dole.


Richard,
As a conveyancing solicitor I believed you have a vested interest but I don't now.

GG

david29dpo

It keeps me off the dole.

Richard_Webster

Richard,
As a conveyancing solicitor I believe you have a vested interest.

GG

Why way a vested interest, Gorgeous George? In supporting HIPs or in opposing them?

I can do a HIP and charge for it, but this is largely because I more or less have to in order not to lose conveyancing work. I look at them as something that has to be done in order to sell a property, and nothing more. There's not much profit in it, I'm afraid.

I didn't think my last post was particularly pro-HIP and you don't seem to think they are a wonderful idea either, so what were you getting at?

Gorgeous_George

Fair point and I withdraw my ill-thought-out comment.

GG

david29dpo

I am sorry to say this will be my last ever post. I no longer enjoy trying to help others on here. Good bye.

lynzpower

The thing is, (and this is certainly not a dig at you Richard, Your advice on here is invaluble ) most solicitors are not always that quick, and they are often thwarted by the delays at the local authority, planning, plus getting searches back from utilities etc. My own sale was delayed ridiculously by the housing association for about 4 months ( no joke) they messed about, marketing it witohut a lease in place, no contractor emplyed by them, the managing agent to undertake repairs under the NHBC warranty, and so on and so on. Wh couldnt this have been in place when it was marketed? Because there was no impetus to. When I moved out they naffed around for 6 weeks trying to work out who they had contracted to do repairs ( again!!)~ and didnt have the accounts for the service charges which was needed obv by my buyers solicitor. Solicitors, even if they are excellent, are still held up by this.

If every buyer had all this in place, before it went on the market a lot of heartache would be saved, and money too.

WOuldnt it be nice to know that that property with the shortish leases lease is ACTUALLY less than what the vendor tells you it is. And youve saved yourself 800 notes on a survey that you would have pulled out with anyway.

I think its a real shame that theyve been wartered down to the extent they are by bad press and governments own dirthering, that it should have been trumpeted as the real progress it is. Makes vendors show that thier place is worth buying instead of the punter who has to spend his own money finding out that its not!! My parents have lost count of the 1000s spent over the years on bad leases and scary surveys, and the legal fees that go with it. Not moneysaving.