| Receive News Updates |
May 2010
PINPoint Property Information Launched
Following the suspension of the HIP legislation, the Directors of HIP Matters Ltd have brought forward plans to introduce their comprehensive property information business, PINPoint Property Information Ltd. Via the PINPoint portal, clients can access a range of products and services including residential & commercial Energy Performance Certificates, Local Authority and other property searches and reports, property condition reports and additional surveys, the unique SmartSale marketing & legal pack, and our conveyancing service.
All products and services have been developed with the same commitment to quality and value that HIP Matters clients have come to expect, and we are delighted to be able to continue working with those clients in the months and years ahead.
Article by HIP Matters MD, Simon Thomas, published on www.hip-consultant.co.uk
Despite recent rumours and ill informed articles to the contrary, it is still ‘business as usual’ in the HIP industry – for now at least. Since the new Government confirmed that they planned to scrap HIPs whilst retaining the Energy Performance Certificate (they have no choice in this – it’s required by European Directive), there has been constant talk about if and when the requirement for a Home Information Pack will be abolished. Elements of the press have been particularly irresponsible, claiming, in The Independent, that ‘HIPs have been scrapped’ whilst ‘Voice of the Industry’ Estate Agent Today have prematurely claimed that an order to suspend HIPs has already been signed.
Whatever the reason for publishing these erroneous articles, the result has been to cause confusion amongst both the property industry and the consumer. The Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG) have confirmed today that a HIP suspension order has NOT been signed, yet the rumours have encouraged home owners to put off selling their properties and, in some cases, ask their estate agents to break the law by marketing their homes without ordering a HIP.
What is clear, once fact has been separated from fiction, is that until CLG say otherwise, a HIP is still required before the marketing of a property can begin. The Housing Minister, Grant Shapps, has previously explained that the new Government will scrap HIPs after a consultation period, which he expected to take around 100 days. Whether it’s possible to suspend the requirement during this consultation period is not completely clear. The Housing Act 2004 does seem to allow the option, but it is accepted that the clause was included in order to provide an ‘emergency escape’ if HIPs proved to dramatically stall the housing market in the early days after their introduction. As a recent Office of Fair Trading (OFT) report, published in February this year, concludes ‘it could be argued that HIPs in their current form have a positive impact’ and ‘We do not, therefore, recommend any intervention on this issue at the present time.’ So the OFT, no less, would seem to prevent the use of the suspension clause in the Act, or at least provide the basis for a legal challenge were it used at this late stage.
The HIP industry must accept that the new Government has been consistent, whilst in opposition, in its intention to abolish our livelihoods, and that they will now take steps to carry out their plans. Some of us have planned for this eventuality and started to develop alternative solutions to the current HIP, that offer the real improvements to home buying & selling process that the previous Government failed to realise were achievable. Given the opportunity, we will provide the market driven solutions that the Conservatives claim to support, but any move by the Con/Lib coalition to invoke an immediate suspension will not only stall these entrepreneurially driven improvements, but also cause massive and very real problems for HIP providers and well beyond.
A planned removal of the requirement for a HIP, as reasonably expected given the 100 day consultation we’ve been promised, will allow businesses to wind down or shift the focus of their operations in a structured manner. An immediate suspension, on the other hand, will lead almost instantly to mass redundancy (with its inevitable financial effect on both individuals and the State) and an inability to meet creditor’s payments. Energy Assessors, Search Providers and software firms will be amongst those to find themselves deeply out of pocket, frustratingly at no fault of themselves or even their clients.
It is, of course, just a rumour that an immediate suspension is imminent, and it is surely inconceivable that a new Government would create this type of widespread catastrophe as one of its first acts. Grant Shapps and his colleagues now have an easy decision to make – they can either ruin the lives of thousands of members of our industry, or provide the time and support that will allow us to deliver the market led solutions they accept are required.
December 2008
Consumers to Benefit From Improved HIP
A quick look at how alterations to the sellers pack, announced by the Housing Minister, will effect the groups involved in the industry.
Get Paid For New Instructions
HIP Matters has developed a way in which Estate Agents can earn part of their fee when they take on new instructions. We believe Estate Agents should start to consider methods of securing income at the start of their activity, rather than at the end, and have found a way to achieve this without clients having to make up front payments.
October 2008
HIP Matters Director Appointed Chairman of IPPA
Simon Thomas is appointed as Chairman of quality assurance organisation, plus an update on our 'No Sale - No Fee' HIP and a brief preview of our latest investment in HIP technology.
September 2008
EPCs Required For Pre-HIP Properties
A look at the regulations relating to the requirement for EPCs on properties marketed prior to the introduction of HIPs
June 2008
HIP Matters Launches the No Sale - No Fee HIP
HIP Matters is delighted to announce the launch of our No Sale - No Fee Home Information Pack. Quite simply, if you sell your home within 9 months, you will pay for your HIP in full from the proceeds of the sale. If, however, your home remains unsold after 9 months, you will keep your HIP but won't have to pay even a penny for it.
Please contact us for further information.
HIP Matters Newsletter - March 2008
HIP Matters Ltd and the Conservative Party Home Buying Review
Last month I was invited to
Our intention was to convince Mr Shapps that, should the Conservatives win the next election, he should not scrap HIPs as he has previously stated his intention to be, but improve them instead. We feel that whilst the Home Information Pack has been diluted and poorly introduced, it is a step in the right direction and with appropriate improvements can be made into something that genuinely improves the home buying/selling process for all involved.
Alarmingly, we discovered during the meeting that the Conservative policy to scrap HIPs is based upon incorrect information in relation to the end of 1st Day Marketing (on May 31st this year). Mr Shapps was under the commonly held impression that from 1st June a full HIP will need to be available before marketing can commence when, in fact, all required documents must be present with the exception of the Local Authority and Water & Drainage Searches, which will need to have been ordered, but not necessarily received. There will be no reason for any delay, at least for HIP Matters’ clients, as the only potential hold up will be in making an appointment to carry out the energy survey, which we will normally be able to arrange when/before the Estate Agent prepares their details if necessary.
Grant Shapps was obviously very interested to learn this information and he has invited us to provide ongoing input and feedback to his Home Buying Review. The following excerpt from an email I subsequently sent to him explains some of the ideas we've suggested so far:
"I think that some sort of pack should be produced by the buyer (let's call it a Buyer Info Pack or BIP), but it should demonstrate that they have the ability to proceed - i.e. they have the funds in place.
One purpose of the HIP is to reduce duplication - all relevant info about the property is supposed to be provided up front so that all potential buyers can consider it. If a buyer has an offer accepted, starts paying the associated costs & then has to pull out because they find all is not as it seems, then this means that a subsequent potential buyer must pay the same costs to get the same information, which is clearly a situation that should be avoided if possible & is what the HIP was intended to avoid.
If the HIP legislation had been well executed this problem would usually be avoided. If it were then tied in with the BIP & also an agreement for each party to deposit, perhaps 1% of the agreed price, which would go to the other party if either pulled out, then we would have:
A commitment by both parties;
Evidence of the property's condition & 'buyableness';
Evidence that the buyer is in a position to proceed (a significant reason for sales collapsing);
All the information required for the sale to proceed quickly to completion, once it's been agreed.
To ensure the HIP achieves it's part in this process it needs to include:
An HCR (including valuation to meet CML requirements);
Searches that are acceptable to all parties and are dynamic/updatable so they don't 'expire';
Mandatory info to include Home Contents & Home Use Forms and additional searches required for the particular property (e.g. flood or mining searches where applicable);
A Sale Contract that can be signed as soon as a sale is agreed;
And obviously an EPC!"
Please send us your thoughts and ideas using the contact form at the top of the page.
HIP Providers – Local or National?
When asked and answered by a local independent HIP Provider you’re really only going to get one response, but is this based on solid reasoning, or is it merely a biased point of view? There are strong arguments for using a local company in terms of service – easier contact with accountable people, fewer ‘links in the chain’ and therefore speedier response, local knowledge and a friendly face allowing for better working relationships etc. However, these could be seen as subjective points and, in truth, the way the company is run will have at least as much to do with these factors as where it is based.
So are there any more objective reasons for choosing a local HIP partner? Looking at how the basic components of a HIP are compiled then we start to see how a local company is far better placed to provide an efficient and accurate service. The fact that our streets and neighbourhoods have been continuously redeveloped over the years means that the information we rely on to establish the title and charges on properties must constantly be updated. Unfortunately this is something that has been overlooked in a surprising number of cases and this is something that a local HIP Provider is ideally placed to identify.
The following two copies of Land Registry Title Plans are the result of a search request on exactly the same address. The first is the initial plan returned last year by the Land Registry, which would have been perfectly correct until the construction of a new property on the road in the early 1980s. Having visited the property we were able to identify that the highlighted property was clearly not the required one – something a national provider, who outsources their EPCs, would have been unable to recognise. The relatively new house had caused the properties on the upper half of the road to be completely re-numbered, which hadn’t been reflected on the Land Registry’s records. Our local position and area knowledge allowed us to work with our search provider to remedy the problem before it became an issue. A remote national HIP Provider would have no opportunity to do this and in many cases would almost certainly have used the original Title Plan and Register, thereby creating an invalid HIP that would fail to establish the correct title to the property.
Copy of the first Title Plan provided, showing the original house numbering. |
Copy of revised Plan highlighting number 11 as it exists now. |
The above example is not the only one of its’ type that we’ve encountered recently and whilst nobody can guarantee that mistakes will never be made, the fact that we were able to successfully remedy these cases before they became problematic, demonstrates how a locally based HIP Provider is best placed to deliver HIPs accurately, on time, first time.
Local Authority Searches
One of the grey areas that we believe the Government should have clarified before introducing HIPs is the question of whether Personal Local Authority Searches should be routinely accepted by all parties involved in the conveyancing process. Whilst it is quite clear that the inclusion of appropriately sourced personal searches are entirely acceptable in terms of providing a compliant HIP, there is some debate over whether or not they will be accepted by a buyer’s Solicitor, with some demanding that ‘Official’ searches be sourced directly from the relevant Council. The problem seems to lie with the fact that any individual can request a ‘personal’ search, thereby creating doubt over the quality of the resulting document. All HIP Matters’ searches are supplied by suitably qualified and insured providers in line with the Property Codes Compliance Board’s ‘Search Code’, which we believe ensures delivery of an accurate, high quality product. In recognition, however, of the desire that some parties might have for ‘Official’ searches, we have arranged to source these if requested. There is an additional cost involved, which varies depending on the relevant Local Authority, and delivery timescales may also be affected, but if you have a client who expresses a concern regarding this issue then please let us know and we’ll be able to provide a suitable solution.
