Home info packs suspended

[Ed]

..and then to be abolished.

http://www.communities.gov.uk/news/housing/1591781

Shame. The planning and introduction was a shambles, they were incomplete - for example, no environmental search - and criminalising people for no HIP was a joke. But they did make more info available upfront and did help speed things up a bit.

More to the point, I made money on them. Not much, about £20 a go, but we had a great priocess. We could get them in place within about 30 mins. I'll just have to increase fees elsewhere:D

[Luckypants]

Hooo-bloody-ray! Too late to help me out, but I seems to me that HIPS gave nothing the normal conveyancing process would not show up (EPC excepted*) and cost money just to put a house on the market. £250-£450 for nowt IMHO. Yes I can see that the whole HIPS industry that has grown up around this will go down the toilet and I feel for you in that regard Ed (but you can add £20 to conveyancing and no one will really notice! :-dd), but folks who make a living from HIPS were just leeching off the housing market.

* The EPC remains but is not needed before putting on the market.

God I hope this helps put a buyer my way (but I doubt it!) :smt120

[BigBaddad]

common sense in our government....who'd have thought it possible.

[Ed]

We used to outsource our HIPs to a HIP company but then we realised that we could do them better ourselves and make a small profit. We used to charge £275 to include VAT. The outsourcing company we used has invested lots of money in their systems and I suspect that their 15+ employees will now be made redundant.

[yorkie_chris]

Shame about their employees but it was tantamount to extortion...

[BigBaddad]

We used to outsource our HIPs to a HIP company but then we realised that we could do them better ourselves and make a small profit. We used to charge £275 to include VAT. The outsourcing company we used has invested lots of money in their systems and I suspect that their 15+ employees will now be made redundant.

What did they do before HIP's. More people out of pocket with them than without.

[gettin2dizzy]

Bah, all you bleedin' homo-wners.

Less paperwork = better. Always.

[Ed]

Bah, all you bleedin' homo-wners.

Less paperwork = better. Always.

I ain't a home owner no more. I've decided I like renting:D

[timwilky]

What did they do before HIP's. More people out of pocket with them than without.

Same as they still do now. The buyer has to appoint a solicitor to make sure all the right questions are asked/answered. The HIP was supposed to contain all the information a potential buyer would need. But only a fool would accept a sellers survey without getting their own full structural etc.

So they used the energy mallarky to tell you what you already know. Fit energy saving bulbs, insulate cavities/loft etc. Bullpoo really

[gettin2dizzy]

I ain't a home owner no more. I've decided I like renting:D
Rentboy ;)

[dizzyblonde]

less money to find when I put this old house on the market. As LP said hoooo booody raaayy!!
I think it was a complete waste of my money for something that was to us completely and utterly useless. A tool to save gazumping my ar$e!
Fair doos with the efficiency thingymybob, I don't mind that. A few quid for that is much better than paying over 250 quid or more that would be better used under the wobbly table in the corner :-)

[G]

Thank god... Common sense they werethe biggest waste of money going, I feel for the people that reckon they spent a fortune being trained to do them... Especially seen as the surveyor at my employer were just doing them anyway and like ed says in about 20 minutes by desktop.

They really were worthless.

[Nobbylad]

Why fairdoos with the efficiency thingy? Surely you can see if someone has low energy light bulbs, thermostatic controls on the rads and a boiler that's not running on coal?!

The only thing you couldn't tell from a cursory glance is whether a property has cavity wall insulation - which costs less to install than the HIP in the first place!

[454697819]

hoorah....i didnt mind paying it was just the fact thay they held no basis so both the purcherser and seller had to pay for the same checks to be done...

fukin joke...

good riddance..

[Luckypants]

Why fairdoos with the efficiency thingy? Surely you can see if someone has low energy light bulbs, thermostatic controls on the rads and a boiler that's not running on coal?!

The only thing you couldn't tell from a cursory glance is whether a property has cavity wall insulation - which costs less to install than the HIP in the first place!Well true, but a comparable 1970s home is built to a lower insulations standard than a current new home but is valued similarly? So this shows relative standards. Also it should show up anything a homeowner has done to improve things, like thicker loft insulation, after market cavity wall insulation, better double glazing etc.

However, the truth is far from that, the blokey that came round my place did not look in the loft - I had to tell him that there was 250mm not standard 60mm (for the age of the house) of loft insulation, he made no allowance for the fact that the garage conversion has underfloor insulation etc. He wanted to be in and out in 10 minutes to maximise his return.

Oh the other thing you cannot check for with cursory glance is underfloor insulation, required by building regs since 2006 IIRC, but fitted by most self-builders and quality builders for years. Blokey's computer seemed incapable of making these additional allowances and he was not going to spend time doing them manually as that cut his profit.

[yorkie_chris]

How bloody stupid would you have to be if you were going to part with £150k and not check these things yourself?

[speedplay]

Bout time too.

The HIP idea was a good one but was only carried out half arsed.

[Bluefish]

News to me, result though, might move next year.

[Ed]

News to me, result though, might move next year.

Will be v pleased to act for you:D:D

[CheGuevara]

So Ed-dude, how might this affect (if at all) those of us who are midway through a purchase? ;)

[Ed]

So Ed-dude, how might this affect (if at all) those of us who are midway through a purchase? ;)

Not at all. Your solicitor will have the HIP, I daresay that it will have raised more questions than it answered, but your lawyer will be able to continue as is:D

[CheGuevara]

Not at all. Your solicitor will have the HIP, I daresay that it will have raised more questions than it answered, but your lawyer will be able to continue as is:D

Excellent news that, thanks :)

[flymo]

Good news this, HIPs should always have been an optional thing that may or may not add value to your sale, much like a full service history on a vehicle.