HIPs: good thing, or bad?

[MM]

Huh, I don't call £135 for the local authority search small!

MM

[Tony Hogarty]

[MM]

Pay up front, yes. In this land of one trillion in personal debt, not many can stump up a grand UNTIL the house has been sold. And if they borrow the money, then the house doesn't sell and the HIP lapses after a while, which it surely will, as nothing it contains will be valid any longer, they will be even deeper in the financial doodoo.

MM

[Huge]

Who's going to enforce it? If someone wants to buy your house enough, they'll sort something out. And if they don't, do I really want to do business with them?

[andy hall]

That should knock it on the head nicely......

[andy hall]

Cabinet ministers

[Rick]

0.1 % of the total cost of the property - its small. Its all a matter of scale. I used to fix computers holding a long way over a trillion in bank account balances, so a trillion in debit for the whole UK does not sould too bad. A trillon in debit for one poor person - is indeed lots, as is 135 quid for a recently divorced male whose now ex wife had a better solicitor than he did.

Rick

[MM]

Well, I thought the whole idea behind HIPs was that they would be

*mandatory*, as yet another addition to Tony Blair's police state measures. Are you saying that they will NOT be mandatory?

MM

[MM]

Yes, but £135 may be one outlay - for the BUYER, normally! Finding up to a thousand pounds up front for the SELLER is a different thing entirely. The seller is already having to budget for the large chunk of money that goes to the estate agent in most transactions and may already have spent thousands getting the house ready for sale. I mean, do you *want* to encourage a housing market crash? For this is surely going to be the result. Sure, the middle and top end of the market may be able to finance the HIPs, but a low-income couple with baby on the way who are already stretched but want to move from their one-bedroom flat to a two-bed terrace? How are they going to suddenly afford a HIP?

MM

[Ed Sirett]

As I submit notifications for minor maintenance replacements. I'm thinking this is "Dead Tree Abuse" and the paper would have more use in the Lavatory than a HIP.

No one (except maybe for the absolute top of the market) will have all the right paperwork and that alone will mean that a pragmatic approach will be taken. Exactly how that works will remain to be seen.

[Huge]

All kinds of things that are mandatory are ignored. If a law is not enforced, then it might as well not exist.

[Capitol]

Well, I can see a situation where the estate agents will be offering houses for viewing, not selling, without HIPs, on the understanding that a worthless HIP will be provided if a serious offer is made. ie the viewer pays a HIP fee!

This is similar to how shops get round Sunday opening hours, by having a non trading, viewing session.

Comments?

Regards Capitol

[John Rumm]

More than likely... or someone will start doing bargain basement HIPs for a flat rate fee that tick all the regulatory boxes and come so stuffed with disclaimers as to render them even more pointless than they would otherwise be.

[Tony Bryer]

The estate agent only gets paid when the sale goes through so it is in his interest that this happens as smoothly as possibly. If the search is going to throw up problems, the HIP process reveals that there is no PP for the extension, the seller has lost some vital paperwork etc etc, then the EA may decide that putting undue effort into marketing may not be justified. Or IOW if you want the EA to work hard for you what better incentive than to be able to show him that all the paperwork is there and clean.

[Huge]

[12 lines snipped]

Kidnap his wife and children and hold them to ransome?

[MM]

But the government has said that the HIP must contain details of local searches, and that is something that you just cannot get round. I had to pay £135 for mine. Mind you, this could show that the government, as ever, haven't thought through the fine details yet.

MM

[John Rumm]

or as usual they will achieve the opposite of what they set out to do!

I expect some of the bigger conveyancing firms - people like "movewithus" etc will imply do a no sale no fee HIP pack. Bargain basement survey etc put together but with the fee deferred until after the sale. The vendor will no doubt add the fee to the amount asked for the house, the buyer will not trust the vendors survey and pay for it again. So everyone pays twice for the same thing, more paperwork, and happy lawyers! You could be lead to the impression that there is some connection between government and lawyers... oh hang on a mo...