Home Information Packs
As we know the conservative party has stated that Home Infomation Packs will be abolished should it form the next government.
What does the forum think?
Have HIPs been the unmitigated disaster expected by the legal profession?
Was the profession thinking only of it's own interest rather than that of the client when it opposed the introduction of HIPs.
I well remember the voices of doom and gloom telling us that those who controlled the HIP controlled the whole process.
Has that happened? I do not think so.I cannot see that HIPs have had any influence on the source of our work at all. In effect the estate agent will continue to dominate with or without HIPs.
I for one have found it helpful to have documents available on the point of instruction even though I might need more at a later date.
Should we as solicitors tag along with the conservatives and revert to the way we were or should we, who after have to bear the most responsibility in the coveyancing process, take the lead to show clients and the government that we are pro-active and not re-active?
Against a background of client indifference and media scepticism we should promote reform in this field. We are the front line - we know how it is.
A colleague from another forum has produced an eloquent and concise defence of HIPs.
With his permission I include it in this post.
HIPs have started to revolutionise the homebuying process but will we be brave and take it further?
Sellers should embrace the HIP. HIPs transparently state facts, more information encourages buyers to be more committed. Sellers who buy another property benefit by getting to see the related HIP at no cost.
Estate agents should embrace the HIP. Upfront cost deters time-wasters marketing their home, a no-brainer in agents ‘no sale no fee’ model. Committed buyers/sellers reduce fall-through rates, why market 100 properties and sell only 50? Agents should cut overheads by marketing only the 50 homes belonging to ‘committed’ sellers using the spare time and marketing budget winning new business.
Buyers should embrace HIPs, they provide useful free information, and the documents provided upfront ensure that the time from making an offer to moving in is now shorter than before.
Conveyancers should embrace HIPs. The internet age is leaving conveyancing behind! They have the opportunity to demonstrate to clients what they do, why specialist knowledge is essential investigating detail within, and beyond, the HIP. Conveyancers can be instructed at the point of marketing and can then retain significant numbers of clients who will all require further legal services during their lives.
Hips are a complete waste of
Hips are a complete waste of time & money - buyers rarely ask for them, estate agents rarely provide them and solicitors generally provided the information contained in them with contract papers anyway.
Searches go out of date and have to be redone at extra cost and delay.
Its a complete white elephant created by a Government obsessed with bureaucracy and the micro management of all aspects of society.
You may of course be
You may of course be correct.
At best HIPs could be thought of as an honest attempt to improve the house-buying process.
At worst they could represent the policy of a government so obsessed with it's own ideology that it does not know when to admit a mistake has been made.
The point of my post was really to ask if reform is actually needed in this area and if so what precisely should be done.
The media constantly criticises the system but very few commentators come up with positive proposals.
HIPs as you probably know started life as a means of combating gazumping and morphed into what we have now - nothing whatsoever to do with gazumping - just a peg on which to hang the Energy Performance Certificate.
So do we need reform at all and if so what is to be done?
I suspect the only reform we
I suspect the only reform we need is for them to be abolished - the system worked perfectly well without them and they simply create an extra unnecessary expense to the moving experience.
As for Energy Perfomance Certificates - I believe this requirement originated in Europe - which faceless and out of touch Eurocrats think anyone cares about energy ratings for houses - no one cares about them, no one understands them and the recommendations contained in this section of the HIP are often plain common sense (get double glazing) or plain stupid (get solar panels)
Again you are correct. The
Again you are correct.
The EPC originates from The Energy Performance of Buildings Directive of 2002 and represents part of the EU's strategy to meet it's emission targets agreed at Kyoto.
I have to say that since their introduction not one client has sought advice from me as to their meaning or content.
Draw your own conclusions.