The examples Mr P. Walker has given above can potentially cause delays in transaction times. By commissioning a Home Information Pack at the start of the process these examples can be identified and resolved prior to an offer being submitted, therefore removing the probability of a ‘last minute’ hold up.

Andrew Cook

The main protagonists in the anti HIP lobby have vested interests (real or perceived) in maintaining the status quo, their opposition to HIPs is not altruistic - it’s greed.
An example of this greed can be seen in the ‘mark-up’ that some Estate Agents apply to the HIP before ’selling it on’. HIP prices have fallen due to competition (and the fact that searches have become cheaper due to HIP’s!) but I regularly encounter house sellers who have paid up to £50 more for their pack because the Estate Agent has added ‘administration costs’ to it!

The Government have been sadly negligent in thier attitude towards publicity for HIP’s, has anyone seen anything meaningfull aimed at anyone other than Property ‘Professionals’? If you leave the publicity in the hands of the anti HIP lobby you get the situation that we are have now.
The general public know little, if anything, about HIPs other than the negative press releases and Estate Agents are not exactly forthcoming when asked about them.

As a DEA & HIP provider I know that many HIP’s are not being progressed until a firm offer has been made on a property. I also know that the threat of being fined £200 (per day) for not having the HIP / EPC data in place is laughed at, after all who is going to enforce it - certainly not the local Trading Standards people.

HIPs were, and still are, a very good idea. It’s a pity that the government do not seem able to recognise this and support them with the strength that they deserve.

The searches have to be done anyway, regardless. The only difference previously was that a solicitor or conveyancer, took your eyes out and came back for the sockets with the fees that you were charged.

And to say they are expensive to home sellers is claptrap as well! The price has reached a level which is far more cost effective than has been suggested. But more importantly, nearly everybody who is selling their house is going on to buy another one so it’s even stevens! The house they go to buy has to have a HIP too so they, as potential buyers, don’t have to pay out fortunes for searches cos they’ve already been done. Thus, they have saved probably more by the HIP process rather than the old way.

Despite all the political rubbish being spouted by the opportunist Tories, it is my belief that HIPS are here to stay, in one form or another. The Tories don’t have a viable alternative and probably won’t have because it’s not an issue which has any political capital at a general election. People have far more important priorities like the cost of gas and electricity, for which they are being held to ransom by energy suppliers, owned by foreign companies, which were able to do so cos Margaret Bloody Thatcher sold them all off to give tax cuts.

Since then I have been producing HIPs. I can now defend them. Over the months I have been able to resolve many issues that could have delayed the sale of a house had they not come to light at the start of marketing.

a. Properties not registered with HMLR
b. HMLR documents with incorrect postcodes
c. Homes with additional land purchased not registered with HMLR
d. Incorrect address on HMLR documents
e. Incorrect land boundries on HMLR documents
f. IH Tax issues

I feel that HIP do bring benifits. As for cost, well all the documents in the HIP(apart from the EPC) have always been required. The vendor pays for them instead of the buyer, preventing loss of monies to the buyer when the sale falls through.

So now searches are cheaper than ever. An EPC costs between £80 to £120.

HIPs are a good thing.

Henry Pryor, who set up property website Primemove.com, has calculated that at least one in 10 of sellers do not have a HIP.

“About 130,000 houses went onto the market in May, but only 89,000 HIPS were commissioned,” he said.

He said some of this figure could include sellers remarketing their homes, but that “about 15,000 people put their house on the market without first commissioning a HIP”.

The HIP provides information at the beginning of the house buying process which includes documents previously supplied once a deal was struck. As essential documents are prepared and ready to be used in the conveyancing it can speed the process up and identify any issue that may cause concern at the outset, reducing the numbers of house sales falling through.

I am an estate agent and work for a small independent firm in Bristol. The local market is, well, bad to say the least!

The number of people pulling out on sales at the last minute or trying to re-neg is sooooooo bad that we have had to look in to other revenue steams.

One of the main problems with estate agency is that we have to wait 2-4 months once we have secured a sale before we actually get paid on the sale. For years Estate agents have been trying to come up with ways to secure some money upfront on every sale and it has been found! HIP’s are the upfront fee agents have been searching for (thank you labour!) It is instant money and a very good revenue stream.

However, with EPC’s being part of the HIP it wont be long before they are carried out in house to secure another revenue stream. I have just trained as a DEA which means i can offer Estate Agency experience, lettings experience and now EPC’s! I have the advantage of having a guranteed source of houses (rental and sales) and the ability to undercut any self employed DEA - it also makes me ‘needed’ by my company!

So, anyone new who wants to train as a DEA i would highly recommend that you have a source of EPC stock BEFORE you train otherwise you will be wasting your money in the long run.

It wont be long before the Estate Agents catch on to this and they trian themselves up. Therefor emy suggestions would be to get trained as a DEA and apply for jobs as an estate agent or letting agent - that way you have a guranteed stream AND the ability to command a better salary than if you were working independently.