In broad terms a HIP is a loosely defined collection of documents relating to a property to be marketed. The documents are a combination of legal, financial, "general information", "energy efficiency report" and a "home condition report" (HCR) (the latter has already been discredited as it will not be acceptable to lenders and hence the report is now optional). The HIP must follow a proscribed but poorley defined layout but this cannot be described as a standard as it is left to individual providers to interpret the guidance more or less as they see fit (though trivial details such as the HIP logo and its appearance in specific places were agreed and have since been dropped !)
In reality the HIP only introduces one new element to the process of selling a house, namely the productionof an Energy Performance Certificate (this is being forced on the UK by EU legislation - watch out for future taxes on your property based on this report !). There are procedural differences, sellers now have to provide a Local Search (this was previously bought by purchasers) AND sellers also have to supply a mandatory and (in most cases) completely unnecessary Water/Drainage Search. All the other required legal documents were already prepared/obtained by Solicitors in the process of selling/buying a property. From the 1st August 2007 these documents must be prepared prior to marketing (but keep an eye on Updates).
We believe this new system will have very little (if any) effect on the length of time it takes to sell a property from the perspective of the seller but will add considerable cost. Moreover, searches will have to be re-purchased (at the seller's expense) if the property is not sold within certain time limits.
The government instituted subsidised trials in various parts of the country with the help of a small group of commercially interested parties. With this form of state funding it was inevitable that the HIP scheme was forced on the market before even publishing the results of the trial (for those of you familiar with Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland the phrase "Sentence first - verdict afterwards" comes to mind !).
It is our view that the HIP scheme will cause unnecessary confusion, will add unnecessary expense and will fail in its declaired aim of speeding up the conveyancing process.
Nevertheless, this firm's primary duty of care is to its clients and for this very reason we are providing a comprehensive HIP creation and advice service that is of the same quality, rigour and integrity as is provided in everything else we do i.e. second to none. To this end we are closely following the developing legislation and ensuing practical limitations/modifications and have been well prepared to meet the challenge from day one.
