ANYONE planning to sell a family home needs to act quickly if they wish to
avoid buying a home information pack (commonly known as a Hip). Critics of
the packs still hope that the Government will abandon the plan altogether,
but unless there is a last-minute change of heart Hips will finally become a
part of the sale process on August 1.
Does everyone who plans to sell their home need a Hip? No. The
Government announced in May that it was postponing the introduction of Hips,
which had been set for June 1, until August 1. However, it also said that
Hips would initially be mandatory only for those selling houses with four
bedrooms or more. There will then be a second phase, covering three-bedroom
properties, and a third, covering the rest of the market.
We are planning to sell a house with four bedrooms. Can we market it as a
three-bedroom house with a study? You could, but it might well be
self-defeating because you could end up getting less for the property than
you would by marketing it as a fourbed. “The way most people shop for houses
these days is through internet portals, and about the second or third
question you are asked is how many bedrooms you want,” says Mike Ockenden,
director-general of the Association of Home Information Pack Providers
(Ahipp). “If you list your home as a three-bed-room house, then you will
lose all the potential purchasers looking for four bedrooms or more.”
However, agents already have a name for the study – “the Hip replacement
room”.
I want to sell a smaller property. When will I need to obtain a Hip?
You may have to act soon. There is no firm time-line for the introduction of
the second and third phases of the introduction of Hips. The Government has
said that it will wait until there are enough domestic energy assessors
(DEAs) to cope with the job, and until those DEAs are in the right parts of
the country to make the system work smoothly. Two weeks ago Ahipp announced
that just one more DEA was needed for the second phase to start. “The
likelihood is that the Government will lay down the commencement order for
Hips on three-bedroom properties very soon,” Mr Ockenden says. They should
go live from September 1, with the rest following not long after. All
properties will need a Hip by the end of the year. However, the National
Association of Estate Agents says that there are not enough DEAs in the
right places even to cope with four-bedroom houses.
What happens if I put my property up for sale before Hips are introduced?
If so, you are likely to have until next spring to sell your home without a
Hip. Originally the Government had stated that, if your property was already
on the market at the time Hips were introduced, you would not need to get a
Hip until March 31, 2008. There is no longer any firm cut-off point but, if
the second and third phases do happen soon, that deadline could well be
revived.
What documents must a Hip contain? Most of the information within a Hip
is that which would usually be gathered by a prospective purchaser’s
solicitor: the terms of sale, evidence of title, a property information
form, a fixtures and fittings form, planning consents and replies to
standard searches. The notable addition is the energy performance
certificate (EPC), which will give details of the property’s size, its
average energy use per square metre, its carbon dioxide emissions, and an
estimate of how much it costs to provide heat, light and water for the
property. Hips for leasehold properties will also need to include a copy of
the lease, details of service charges and regulations made by the landlord
or management company.
How long will it take to obtain my Hip? That depends on how efficient
your Hip provider is, but also on the type of property you are selling. For
most freehold properties, gathering the information needed for a Hip should
take no more than a week. For leaseholders, compiling a Hip could be
problematic because the seller has to rely on the managing agent or
freeholder to come up with information on service charges promptly –
something the agent or freeholder is under no legal obligation to do.
Thankfully, until the end of the year you can market your property as soon
as you have commissioned (rather than produced) your Hip.
How much will a Hip cost me? If you’re selling a family home, the Hip
is likely to cost £400 to £500. Some estate agents, such as Hamptons and
Douglas & Gordon, will be offering Hips free to their clients, but bear
in mind that the Hip will be part of the agent’s overall service, so if you
sell through another party you would have to purchase another seller’s pack.
Others will be offering a Hip at a flat fee: Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward
will charge £350.
What do home information packs mean for you? Find out the latest news at: timesonline.co.uk/hips
SITTINGTIGHT
RICHARD À BRASSARD and his wife Sandy had hoped to sell their four-bedroom
home in Clapham, South London, but now plan to wait a few months to find out
how the market reacts to Hips. À Brassard, a director of the estate agency
Courtenay & Co, is well-informed about Hips. But inertia has afflicted
the industry since the second delay in May: “Before the last ‘introduction’
we had about 20 e-mails a day from Hip providers. Now that has dwindled to a
trickle.” He is most concerned about the effect on prices, especially as
rate increases have squeezed budgets: “Already there is a real shortage of
property on the market because the rungs on the ladder are now so great. A
starting price for a house is about £1 million here, but somewhere with a
bit more space is £1.8 million.” JUDITH HEYWOOD
Before listening to everything AHIPP (Association of Home Information Pack Providers) tells us lets just get something straight. They are in the business of HIPS and need them to be a success! They quote a charge of £10,000 a year to join their association as a full member. £5,000 associate member and £2,000 for affiliate membership. IF HIPS go down the pan then often quoted AHIPP wont sell many memberships will they! Searches done by local councils were only done when a house got a sale agreed on it. If all of a sudden every house going on the market needs the council to do their bit are they ready? where are the extra resources and manpower for this coming from? Well theres an answer. The house can now go on the market without the pack and searches as long as you have started to get one! So, purchaser sees house, makes an offer, only to discover that despite much HIP fanfare they could be none the wiser about what they are buying than before! Utter nonsense.
Christopher Jones, Wolverhampton, England
Mathew of Manchester thinks we live in "Rip of Britain" well the only people who are going to get ripped off, is the home seller.
We are getting people who think they are experts just because they have completed a five hour course! So who exactly is the doing the rip offs
polly, newcastle,
I assume that at some point the ill-informed who purport to lead us will explain how the squeeze on the housing market created by hips driving up prices will be consistant with their wish to see prices stabalise ? Or does higher prices mean higher collection of stamp duty ?
Nic Perkins, Brighton,
A friend of mine is an "energy assessor". As part of his training he had to carry out five surveys on houses for his qualifacation. One of the houses he chose was a five year old terraced house which was constructed by a reputable local builder. He carried out his inspection, ran the boiler etc and then printed off his report. The house fared well however it was noted that "it would have been prudent that solar pannels were to be installed to increase economy"
Is this another stick to beat us with!
So what will the purchaser think and want?
They would look great on a thatched cottage
Simon F, Steyning, West Sussex, UK
Why can't we put our own HIPs together? I have a one-bedroomed bungalow, freehold/leasehold i.e. each of us has a legal share in the Management Company Limited which owns the freehold. I have a copy of the lease, title, share certificate, I know exactly how much the management charges are (because I set and vote on them at the Management Company AGM) and can show the official AGM Minutes, I know exactly how much it costs to heat this house (I have all the bills over the past several years), and I know how much the water costs (again, I have copy bills). Likewise the Council Tax is public knowledge. What's left? OK - a local council search - easy peasy, and a fixed fee of much less than £500! Why on earth should I be paying out anything, much less up to £500 for a "HIP" which would simply involve someone putting all the papers into a file - which I have already done? !! What exactly would I be paying for ?
Leandra, Brightwell-cum-Sotwell, South Oxfordshire
The only energy survey that you need is the last year's utility bills.
Tony, Rugby, UK
Perhaps someone working as a solicitor in conveyancing could comment on this. The HIP will provide details that, at the moment, the Purchaser's solicitor would be expected to obtain and verify before reporting back to his Client - and, quite possibly, to their mortgage lender.
Would a Purchaser's solicitor be prepared to accept as accurate the information contained in the HIP or, given his duty of care to his Client(s), would he feel obliged to duplicate the work / searches already carried out?. If he does rely on the HIP, which is later found to be materially incorrect - would he be in breach of his duty of care to the Purchaser / Lenders and who will be liable to whom for any ensuing damages?
Allan , London ,
Roy in Salford, you have been misinformed. HIPs will not enable any buyer to fully see what they are being offered, and that was never the government's intention.
Originally, the Home Condition Report would have been just that - not a structural survey. Any mortgage lender or solicitor worth their salt would never have been prepared to advise that it could be relied on by a buyer as a sign that the property was in a certain condition. For that reason alone HIPs never would nor could speed up the process - ask the government to release the results of the HIPs trials carries out in various areas of the country, that they have so far refused to make public ( I wonder why?)
Stephen Mannering, Nottingham, UK
Er,,, Tomas..... Generalissimo Franco????
Er.... Mike Mitchell... poll tax/ end of Margaret Thatcher's career? Sudden silence on ID cards?
Read up and dust down your memories chaps
B Keeling, Bologna, Italy
This government have promised that the information collected (at our expense) for HIPS will only be recorded on their database for "its original purpose" and that "under no circumstances" will it be used as a basis for taxation.
Oh look - a squadron of pigs flyiong past!
Mike Bibby, St Albans, England -not Eu
"Why, oh why do you let succesive UK governments dictate your lives from cradle to grave?" asks Tomas, Las Pesqueras, Alicante
Well, Tomas, the British do not protest about anything! They grumble down at the pub, but that's about it. Come to Britain and experience Europe's only elected dictatorship! There are at least five major points about daily life in Britain which would have the French, for example, manning the barricades and blocking the streets. Not in Britain. We just get drunk and forget all about it.
Mike Mitchell, Spalding, UK
What is the point - it seems ot me that many people will simply not have all the information sought (forgotten - lost the papers- whatever) and, as now, the buyer will have to rely on their own judgement supported as they choose by their professionals advice.
What happens when dealing with a deceased person's property - there will be little or no information available.
As as for the "energy performance certificate ", who wants half-trained "chancers" pretending to be qualified "professionals" wandering around their property - tell them to go forth and multiply. I suspect their "certificates" would be better used as personal cleaning material!
EPC's are just a rip-off along with the rest of the HIP, either they will be pulled or they will wither on the vine as buyers realise that they are useless.
Roy Norris, Newtown, UK
I will be attending a HIP training/certification course, which due to my experience will last approximately 5 hours, and cost me £2275.
Rip Off Britain?
I rather think so.
Matthew, Manchester,
Are the same people who are wailing about HIPs also of the opinion that food labelling is a left wing conspiracy?
Would they want dubious chemicals and mechanically recovered meat slurry in their food, without them knowing?
I suggest they stop trumpeting and look at the facts. Having the buyer fully able to see what they are being offered is A Good Thing. The law of retail states that the customer is always right, and HIPs are designed so that the customer has easily accessible information on their purchase. It is no different to food labelling and can be regarded as a statement of the 'health' of the property, just as on their burgers or beans.
Roy Ellor, Salford, UK
I think I've just found out why Estate Agents are so anti HIPS - they'd have to do some work. I've now seen their description of a house I used to ive in.
EA - Believed to be built in the 18th century
Deeds and Local history state 1772 - precisely
EA - An extension., possibly Victorian
Well actually 1862, you can tell that from what's written on it
etc etc.
So, if HIPS make a selling agent actually do the work and get the details of a house factual and correct rather than just the flowery made up rumours they usually deal in then this is surely a good thing.
Pete, edinburgh,
The new HIPS are typical of the London based legislation. In my village it can take several years to find a buyer and six months is typical. The HIPS package will need to be redone many times before a sale.
Peter , Swindon, UK
This certainly opens the way for new stealth taxes; I am sure that eventually properties with a "poor" or no HIP rating will pay extra Community Charge.
The Inspectors will feed back to the taxman any improvements so that the property can be re-rated.
If there was one thing a HIP SHOULD do is indicate if your home is at risk of flooding - i.e. if the Government's catastrophic Planning regulations have allowed your home to be built in a flood plain.
Terry Gilliam's "Brazil" moves a little closer.
Denis W Barnard, Stowmarket, Suffolk
We have a five bed terrace in town which we have for five years renovated due to personal circumstances our family size has dropped so we now wish to down size to a 3 bed in a village so our buyers will have the benefit of hips but not us. Also no one mentions that they only last for 3 months what if you dont sell quickly and even when we moved here and were pushing for quick completetion it still took four months start to finish because of coveyancing being delayed to 'maternity leave' starting and no replacement belive it or not and of course during that time a buyer can pull out and you then need to get another one so on and so fourth so we are not just talking 500 pounds are we!!!
Tracy, newark,
This arogant government always believes it knows better than us and must therefore force its wishes on us.
We don't need HIPS we don't want HIPS. What a total waste of money!
William, Nottingham, GB
The HIP report is just another tax on property. My home, 200 years old, is on the market and not one of the viewers has been concerned with a HIP report. Several viewers have stressed, politely, that they wouldn't give a HIP report provided by us any credence. I know that I wouldn't either. I apply the Buyer Beware principle to buying a home. I would never wholly trust the information provided to me by either an estate agent or a vendor. Nor should any of you out there. You MUST check the information yourself, or get YOUR solicitor to do it for you.
HIPS are just a waste of time and as for the energy survey, don't make me laugh. A proper energy survey of your home would take days. Every wall would have to be assessed as to its insulative properties, every window checked (both normal and double glazing) for poor seals and leaky window frames, every built in power using device would have to be assessed. Need I go on? HIPS, a New Labour policy that should be scrapped!
Mike, Epworth, UK
The average buyer and/or his mortgage company will not believe a set of documents prepared by the seller and will doubtless request independent searches, thus doubling the costs involved in house sale & purchase.
Adrian Friendship, Totnes, Devon UK
Can someone please explain to me why having the information a buyer was going to collect during the sale process available to the buyer before the sale process is such a big deal.
If the info is bad, the buyer pulls out anyway. if the info is good then you have more confident buyers. I can't see the problem.
If £400 in a £1m sale is a problem then someone needs to get a sense of priorities. OK more of an isue in a £100k sale but even then if some agents are doing them for free.
If the Brassards are waiting to see what happens while there is a shortage of properties like theirs for sale due to HIPS then the chances are they will decide to sell at the same time as the other HIPS muppets and sellers will be looking for buyers, not the other way round. Not the brightest move but then, he is an estate agent.
Pete, Edinburgh,
I must admit that I am completely confused by the current plan for HIP's. I was always under the impression that the original purpose of this plan was to eliminate "Gasumping". The government then proceeded to turn it into a complete placibo for all house sale/purchase ills. To add insult to injury, the plan has been posponed, tinkered with, and generally word-smithed out off all recognition. Why, oh why do you let succesive UK governments dictate your lives from cradle to grave?
Tomas, Las Pesqueras, Alicante