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1) WHAT IS A HIP?
HIP which are also referred to as hips stands for Home Information Pack. From 1st of August 2007, the Government introduced this system to help increase the speed of buying and selling properties within England and Wales.
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2) WHAT IS IN A HIP (Home Information Pack)?
The Home Information Pack must contain a range of reports. The reports are aimed at giving the buyer as much information about your property as possible. This consists of:
* An Energy Performance Certificate (this rates your property on a scale of A to G and suggests ways to improve its energy consumption. This must be produced by an accredited Energy Assessor).
* An index of contents
* A Sale Statement
* Evidence of title (for registered properties)
* Searches and leasehold / commonhold documents (or proof that these have been commissioned)
You can also have additional documents added to the Home Information Pack such as:
* A Home Condition Report - similar to a survey
* Guarantees and Warranties
* Other Searches
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3) ARE THERE ANY EXEMPTIONS?
There are a number of cases where a Home Information Pack will not be required such as:
** As of the 14th of December ALL properties in England and Wales must have a HIP. You must have ordered a hip before you can put your property on the market. This is required by Law failure to do so will result in a daily fine of up to £200.
* Properties in Scotland & Northern Ireland at this present time do not require a HIP Pack
* Properties where there is no marketing (e.g. sale to member of the family)
* Non-residential properties
* Seasonal and holiday property / accommodation
* Mixed sales e.g. shop with a flat
* Right to buy sales
* Properties not being sold with completely vacant possession
* Unsafe properties and properties to be demolished
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4) WHY HAVE THEY BEEN INTRODUCED?
The Government introduced HIPs (Home Information Packs) in an attempt to improve the process of buying and selling properties within England and Wales.
The benefit of this system is that it allows the buyer to find out the condition of a property without having to commission a survey. The necessary information about the property will be available before the property is put on the market. If you have several interested parties they will be able to use the same HIP instead of commissioning separate reports.
The HIP will include important information about your property which was not previously available to the buyer until they were further on in the sales process. By making this information available earlier, the process of buying and selling a property will be much quicker.
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5) HOW MUCH WILL IT COST?
The seller of the property has to pay for the Home Information Pack. The average cost of a HIP will be around £500. You can opt to have additional searches done on your property which will take the cost to around £800 (these are optional at this time).
You have several payment options depending on your provider. You can choose to:
* Pay at the time you order your HIP
* Set up an Easy Payment Scheme over a set period of time
* Pay on completion of the sale of your property
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6) HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE TO OBTAIN A HIP SO I CAN SELL MY PROPERTY?
On average it will take 7 working days to prepare the Home Information Pack. The law states that your HIP must be fully completed within 28 days of ordering.
The HIP Pack can be provided online, on CD, on a memory stick or by hard copy, so that buyers can view it when they visit your property. You can also add this information to your property profile on the time4you2move website. This will easily allow buyers to see all the details about your property.
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7) CAN MY PROPERTY GO ON THE MARKET AS SOON AS THE HIP IS ORDERED?
No, you must at least have the:
* Energy Performance Certificate (EPC)
* Sales statement
* Evidence of the title
* Index
You must have evidence that the other documents have been commissioned and will be included in the pack no later than 28 days from when you put your property on the market.
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8) LATEST NEWS ABOUT HIPS 22nd NOVEMBER 2007
All homes marketed for sale from 14 December 2007 in England and Wales will need a Home Information Pack (HIP).
This is a copy of the statement form the Goverment
The Government set out its approach and criteria for phasing the implementation of Home Information Packs (HIPs) including Energy Performance Certificates on 11 June. Sixty per cent of the market is now covered by HIPs. And the criteria for roll out to the rest of the market have now been met. We will therefore complete the phased roll out by extending coverage to the rest of the market from 14th December.
First time buyers of one and two bedroom homes will be the main beneficiaries as they will now get important information about their new home for free. Information such as searches for which they would previously have had to pay will now be included in the HIP paid for by the seller, reducing the costs of the first step onto the property ladder.
But all householders will benefit from having detailed information about the energy efficiency of their home, and measures to save on their fuel bills and cut carbon emissions
200,000 Energy Performance Certificates have been generated since the summer. The analysis of the early phase of rollout of HIPs found that the average rating for homes was an E, and we know that approximately one-fifth of all homes are likely to get an F or G rating. This means that basic measures could significantly cut both fuel bills and carbon emissions. The Energy Savings Trust have also estimated that homeowners could also save around £300 a year on fuel bills from implementing the recommendations in the Energy Performance Certificate.
We will establish a new Green Homes Service to offer those buying or selling a home with an F or G rating free or discounted help with energy efficiency measures, by linking them up with grants and loans provided by energy companies and others. Home buyers could potentially be eligible for hundreds of pounds to get help with insulation or other improvements.
As set out in the criteria of 11 June there are now sufficient energy assessors and home inspectors fully qualified and accredited to provide Energy Performance Certificates for all homes bought and sold. 5794 people are now accredited.
In addition, the government has also conducted monitoring and analysis of the implementation programme to ensure continued smooth roll out. Early monitoring shows:
HIPs are taking on average 7 to 10 days to prepare.
The majority of property, and drainage and water searches, are being delivered within 5 days
Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) are being prepared on average within 2 to 4 days
On average, a HIP costs between £300 and £350. Most of these are not new costs, as they cover the cost of searches and other documents which have simply been transferred from buyer to seller at the beginning of the process. The Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) is of course new but provides consumers with valuable information of the costs of running their home.
Competition from HIPs is reducing the costs of average property searches. 85 local authorities have already reduced their charges by £30 on average.
The government has also commissioned and considered extensive analysis by Europe Economics on the impact of HIPs on the market. We are today publishing their independent report which includes modelling on the impact as well as analysis of the first few months of implementation. It finds no evidence of any impact on transactions or prices, although there is a predicted short term impact on new listings as sellers change the timings of their listings. It concludes that the impact on listings is short lived, and the impact on the market is marginal compared to the wider factors.
We also asked Europe Economics and Dr Peter Williams who is a member of the National Housing and Planning Advice Unit to consider whether changing housing market conditions meant we should change the approach to completing the roll out. Their conclusion was that there are strong arguments for rolling out as planned, and that further delay could cause greater difficulties and uncertainties in the market.
In the light of this evidence therefore we will tomorrow lay the commencement order to extend HIPs and EPCs to one and two bedroom properties from 14 December. In order to ensure continued smooth implementation, we are also extending the temporary provisions on first day marketing for all properties from 1 January to 1 June, providing flexibility for sellers as part of the roll out to one and two bedroom properties.
The implementation of Home Information Packs so far, and the work of the Stakeholder Panel, has also highlighted further improvements that are needed to benefit consumers.
HIPs have already led to improvements in the delivery and cost of searches, with significant reductions in the cost of searches, and in some areas, substantial reductions in the delays in producing searches. However, there are still wide variations in costs and services and we want to see further improvements for consumers. We will therefore publish guidance on access and charging in December for local authorities and personal searchers with the aim of speeding up searches and delivering a fairer deal for consumers.
We have asked Ted Beardsall, Deputy Chief Executive of the Land Registry - and member of our Home Buying and Selling Stakeholder Panel - to advise on what else could be done to improve the search process, ensuring better quality and timeliness of information, and improving value for money for consumers.
Stakeholders have also raised concerns about the costs and timeliness of leasehold information, and the impact that this will have on Home Information Packs when one and two bedroom properties are included given the higher number of leasehold properties. In the majority of cases we would expect leasehold documents to be readily available and easily provided as part of Home Information Packs. However we are aware that some leaseholders, whether in the pre-existing system or creating a HIP, can find the relevant documents difficult to obtain quickly. We know that some also face disproportionate charges to access their documents.
As leasehold information is an important part of the home buying and selling process, and is already generally paid for and provided by the seller, we continue to believe there are considerable advantages to consumers from having leasehold information early on in the Home Information Pack. However, to ensure continued smooth roll out we will phase the introduction of leasehold information in response to stakeholder concerns. We will temporarily amend the HIP regulations so that the lease document itself must be included, but other leasehold information will be introduced as a requirement in six months time. This will allow HIPs for one and two bedroom properties to bed down in advance of leasehold information being required. In the interim, we have also asked Ted Beardsall to advise us and the Home Buying Stakeholder panel on what more can be done to improve the timeliness and cost of leasehold information, alongside the work on searches.
From April 2008, we will begin to roll out EPCs for newly built homes, as well as across commercial property for sale, rent or construction. By October 2008 all public buildings will have a display certificate.
All these measures are designed to promote the interests of the consumer. We will continue to actively monitor the rollout of HIPs and energy performance certificates and the home buying and selling process to ensure we can respond where further improvements are needed. The introduction of HIPs is part of a wider programme of reforms to home buying and selling including e-conveyancing and better redress, which aims to provide consumers with a clearer, more transparent and effective service, with better value for money, benefiting all potential homebuyers and helping in tackling climate change.
8) OLD NEWS ABOUT HIPS - 25 August 2007
* As of the 10th of September any property with more than two bedroom must have a hip pack, unless they have already put there property on the market before that date.
* The average Home price went up again in August so that the average Home price is now £240,000 this means that that most property went up over £20,000 in one month. This sounds great but this means that estate agents are making even more money from you.
Estate agents will make a extra £539 pound which includes vat from your property. This is how some estate agents are giving away hips at this present time, but this will not last for long! but it does show how much money is being made at the expensive of the seller
It is also reported in the news of late that banks and mortgage companies do not except the hip report and will want there own survey done on the property before you will be able to buy. This means that maybe in time hips packs will be discontinued in the future, time will tell but time4you2move will keep you up to date with all the latest issues effecting hips in the future
Because we at time4you2move do not make any profit from Home information packs we do not have favouritism to any hip provider and we will give you the latest information in straight forward language, to help you save as much money when ordering a hip pack.
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9) SAVE MONEY WITH TIME4YOU2MOVE
Remember, time4you2move still only costs a maximum of £25 to help you to sell your property (one year’s membership). We know the need for a HIP has increased the seller’s costs, however, you will still save over £3,000 on average by selling your Home with time4you2move (this depends on the value of your property).
Now there is even more reason to sell your property yourself. It’s easy with the help of time4you2move, so join now.
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10) CAN TIME4YOU2MOVE HELP ME WITH ORDERING A HIP?
You will be able to order your Home Information Pack through the time4you2move website if you wish, it is totaly up to you if you wish to use us or go else were. We at time4you2move DO NOT MAKE ANY MONEY FROM HIP PACKS this means we will not make any commission thereby reducing the cost of the hip pack even further
We have teaming up with one of the country's largest HIP providers called Hip Hip Hooray.com. The cost of the pack depends on the size of your property which ranges from £285+vat to £345+vat for a five to seven bedroom property.
More information about hiphiphooray can be found by clicking here |
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We make no profit from home information packs SAVING YOU even more money!
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THE INDUSTRY'D BEST HIPs PACKAGE FROM HIP HIP HOORAY.COM
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£285+VAT up to 2 bedrooms
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£285+VAT up to 2 bedrooms
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£285+VAT for 5 to 10 bedrooms
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We make no profit from home information packs SAVING YOU even more money!
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