I have 2 HIPs

SuzySu

I mean the Home Information Pack, not the ones that attach your legs to your torso!

The story is as follows:
We appointed Agent 1 - although not our first choice as they seemed a bit rough around the edges, but they had a couple of good ideas so we thought we'd give them a chance. We signed a contract for a 4 week tie in period which they understood and were happy with.

As we have no spare money we had no choice but to defer the payment of our HIP which they said they would arrange. The company called us, came round, did their thing and that's the last we heard on the matter.

At the end of the 4 weeks we wrote to Agent 1 terminating our contract with the necessary two week cooling off period and appointed Agent 2.

They asked us to ask Agent 1 for the link to our HIP so they could legally market the property. Agent 1 refused the link saying we had not paid for it and so, technically, it was not ours.

To cut a long story short, we had no choice but to instruct Agent 2 to order another HIP (deferred again of course) but this time we were told exactly how much it would cost, what the implications were if we changed agents, did not sell within 10 months etc etc. We were never told the price of the first HIP until a bill arrived on our doorstep from Agent 1 (who still have our key!). I don't want to ask for the key back until I have some advice about where we stand over this first HIP.

Obviously we never intended not to pay it - we were told it was payable upon the sale of the property and they knew we had no spare cash. We did not sign anything and all the discussions were verbal. Now we have to pay for 2 HIPs which is something we cannot afford to do.

Please could someone advise me of where we stand or how to proceed with this.

silvercar

Check your contract with agent 1, I'm guessing it states that you become liable to pay for the HIP once you end the contract with them. (otherwise everyone would do a one month contract, terminate it and keep the HIP). Even if you didn't sign a contract, they must have a contract even though the agreement was verbal.

Once you have paid for the HIP, I assume they will give it to you. The shame is that you've already arranged another one. I don't know why you couldn't have told Agent 2 that the HIP has been done and will be availabe shortly, paid Agent 1 and passed the HIP to Agent 2.

Now you will need to tell Agent 1 that you have no money to pay for the HIP and that they will be paid out of the sale proceeds. They can then pass the bill to your solicitors to pay when the house is sold. In fact, I would give them your solicitors address and tell them to send the bill there.

SuzySu

As mentioned previously, we don't have a contract regarding the HIP with Agent 1 - we were never advised of the clauses, only that the HIP became payable on sale of the property. Does that not constitute us being 'missold' in some respect?

As also mentioned we have no spare cash so we can't pay for the first HIP until some cash is freed up from the sale....therefore could not tell Agent 2 that it would be available shortly.

I think that passing the bill to our solicitor is probably the best way to go, although I do resent the fact that we are having to pay for 2 HIPs. I should just chalk it up to experience I suppose and be more careful in future.

Thanks for responding.

PasturesNew

Only you know what was in your specific contract.

However, agents used free HIPs to get you to sign up. But of course the contract will state that you pay for it if you leave them because at the moment THEY have paid it. It hasn't come out of thin air, they've instructed the HIP man, he's been and done his thing and they have paid him already. So it's not like they sent the office boy round for 10 minutes.

You say you have no contract. If there is nothing in writing then they messed up and you're off the hook. So, ask them specifically to send you a copy of the contract with your signature on it, highlighting the part where it says you are liable to pay for the HIP. Just in case they can't.

But expect to have to pay it if it's in there. 4 weeks is in no way long enough to sell a house under normal circumstances, I am surprised there was even a contract that short. Hardly time to get it in the paper really.

The fact you have no money is neither here nor there. The bill is most likely to be overdue and you are most likely to have to pay it.

And when the dust has settled and you think this through, you'll realise that it's common sense that you'd have to pay it if the agent who paid for the HIP didn't end up selling your house.

Good luck, maybe they did slip up.

country_sport

Sorry to say but i think you have slipped up big time. Pay for the first HIP then take it with you to the new agent. Pointless paying for two.

SuzySu

Country Sport - if it was as easy as finding a spare £460 for the HIP we would gladly have paid when presented with the bill. I am in no way trying to get something for nothing as the first HIP company provided a service and deserve payment. My point was: we did not sign a contract regarding the first HIP. Is that good practice in itself? We were not even told how much it would cost and received nothing in writing from either the EA nor the HIP provider. Was it the EAs responsibility to inform us that it was not portable and that we would have to pay if we changed agents? When I queried this with the EA when they billed us they said "oh sorry, you should have been told that". I don't feel that's good enough.

With hindsight I suppose I should have asked "what happens when we change agents" but they knew they were only appointed for 4 weeks and said they were happy with this. They wanted to do a couple of open houses, but they did not come to much.

I will take Pastures New's suggestion and ask for a copy of the agreement (because I know there isn't one) and see what they say.

Will keep you posted. Thanks for all your advice....