Selling without HIPS

jebervic

I have had a house on the market for 6 weeks and not had a HIPS pack, i've been waiting for the agents to bring the matter up, do you only do a HIPS pack if someone wants to buy?

jimc_2

It is the Estate Agents legal responsibility to ensure that the HIP has been ordered before the property is first marketed. It does not have to be complete but the Agent must be able to prove it has been ordered either by the seller or themselves. Perhaps they have ordered it and not told you? Did they mention that the HIP would be organised by themselves?

6 weeks does seem a long time and it would be normal for the EPC inspector to have visited by now. Perhaps it is worth reminding them of their duties (and liability to a fine.)

Don't worry unduly though. It is the Agent that is liable to the fine, not you.

Jorgan_2

In England & Wales a property should not be marketed until the HIP has been commissioned. Some EA's are commissioning the HIP, getting the Energy Performance Certificate part carried out & holding off on the rest of the HIP until they have a buyer. Not sure what they are going to do come June 1st when the regs change.

lynnsarahj84

My HIP provider told me its not just the responsibility of the Estate Agent its the vendor that owns the property that should get a HIP done or they also get a fine for not having a HIP, apparently the fine is £200 per day if you get caught without one!! Not worth it I thought I asked my solicitor and he charged £350+vat! so I searched the web and came up with a few providers that had a reasonable price, its worth looking around for quotes you save a small fortune! I went with southwalesdeas.co.uk because they had the best price (£210+vat) and someone on the phone to answer my questions.
Perhaps you should get one done, if the estate agent gets a fine thats their problem but chances are they wont be paying your fine for you!!!

jimc_2

lynnsarahj84 wrote: »

My HIP provider told me its not just the responsibility of the Estate Agent its the vendor that owns the property that should get a HIP done or they also get a fine for not having a HIP

The Act uses the phrase 'responsible person' as being the one with the duty to ensure the HIP is in place and therefore liable to the fine. The 'responsible person ' is defined as the vendor ONLY if the vendor is selling privately. Otherwise the 'responsible person' (despite what many people may think of the phrase in this context!) is the sellers Agent. There is no fine for the vendor if the Agent slips up.

lynnsarahj84

I had my own for sale board up before I got an estate agent involved (it was taking too long to sell - 8 weeks and NO viewings!! and they said they had buyers waiting, indeed they did! I sold within 2 weeks with them!) anyway I suppose because I had my own for sale board that then made me the 'responsible person' perhaps thats what they said, I cant really remember after they said the fine was £200!!

megansmummy_2

My house sold last month and had been on the market since November, my estate agent never mentioned hips to me either! then right at the last minute said 'ok your house has sold you need a hip and that will be £375 please!!!!! If they had told me before I would have shopped around for a cheaper one! guess its a plot to get you to buy their hip at a high price!! I was not impressed with their methods, had I known they would do that I would not have used them there are plenty of estate agents around that are upfront with information!! Dont get duped into a high cost HIP!!

budget_counsellor_shaz

'until 1 June 2008, a seller or estate agent is allowed to market the property as soon as s/he has commissioned a HIP, rather than when s/he actually receives the HIP, as long as it is expected to arrive within 28 days. An Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) which is part of the HIP, must be provided before contracts are exchanged or when the building it actually finished if this is later than exchange. However, there is no set limit on when the rest of the HIP should be provided to the buyer.'

I hope that helps,

Shaz

jimc_2

megansmummy wrote: »

my estate agent never mentioned hips to me either! then right at the last minute said 'ok your house has sold you need a hip and that will be £375 please!!!!!

Have you paid the Agents bill yet? The C&LG (Dept. for Communities and Local Government) say that if a HIP is incomplete at sale (completion) it doesn't need to be completed. I have never heard of it being legally tested but if your HIP had not even been started then there is a good case for saying you don't need to pay for it! It's not your mistake. At the very most you should only have had to pay for the EPC (Energy certificate) because the searches are all irrelevant now.

If you haven't settled the bill yet, try contesting the HIP charge. Your solicitor may have words to say to them.

WillowCat

megansmummy wrote: »

My house sold last month and had been on the market since November, my estate agent never mentioned hips to me either! then right at the last minute said 'ok your house has sold you need a hip and that will be £375 please!!!!!

How many bedrooms do you have? If two or less and you have been on the market without a break since before 14th December 07 then you don't need a HIP.

If you have three bedrooms you would have needed to have been on the market before 10th September.

dexters_mum_2

Your agent may have commissioned the HIP, have you had your EPC (Energy Performance Certificate) done yet, this is normally one of the first steps that happens when the agent instructs a HIP, some agents use an online HIP which the vendors only seeing the DEA (Domestic Energy Assesor) as part of the HIP and the HIP is electronically passed to the solicitor upon sale of the property.