Welcome to
highfields
Estate Agents & Valuers
Offering an unrivalled service throughout Lancashire. Tastefully presented modern offices in Rochdale and Littleborough with unrivalled back office support.
"We always aim to exceed the expectations of our clients. Instruct us and we will ensure you are not disappointed"
Featured Property
Home Information Packs (HIPS)
| Related Links |
| Quote for a hip pack |
| Sample HIP Pack |
| News & Events |
| Useful Links |
| contact Us |
|
Home Information Packs (HIPs) explained
HIPS ARE NOW SUSPENDED AND NO LONGER
A LEGAL REQUIREMENT
ENERGY PERFORMANCE CERTIFICATES (EPC) STILL REQUIRED
If you are selling a home in England or Wales, you will need to have a Home Information Pack. We provide in house HIP packaging services to our clients as part of the service and would be delighted to go into more detail with you when we come to value your property. Our valuers are also qualified to carry out the required survey to produce the Energy Performance Certificate. A property cannot be marketed until certain components of the HIP are in place. Namely these are the Property Information Questionaire, EPC and Evidence of Title. If an agent markets a property without these items then it will be deemed illegal. As we can prepare the HIP in house we can normally have a property ready to go on the market within 5 days. From our knowledge a lot of firms are taking up to 2 weeks to bring a property to market.
The required documents in a Home Information Pack are:
- A sale statement (summarizing terms of sale)
- Evidence of title
- Standard searches (i.e. local authority enquiries and a drainage and water search) or evidence of applying for the searches
- An Energy Performance Certificate should have been commissioned, but can be up to 12 months old.
- Where appropriate, commonhold information (including a copy of the commonhold community statement)
- Where appropriate, leasehold information (including a copy of the lease, information on service charges and insurance) Where appropriate, a New Homes Warranty
- Where appropriate, a report on a home that is not physically complete
- Including a Home Condition Report is voluntary.
- Property Information Questionaire completed
Hips from £295 plus VAT- ask us for further details.
Buy Now & Pay Later Available
Before the introduction of HIPs, it was reported that nine out of ten consumers were dissatisfied with the previous property system, with almost 30% of transactions failing after an offer had been accepted.
One of the most common complaints was that vital information only became available to buyers after terms had been negotiated and agreed. Consequently, problems that arose with the property were only revealed several weeks into the transaction, by which time both parties may have invested significantly in legal fees and surveys.
The Government believe that by revealing this information early in the transaction then buyers can make a more informed decision on the property, avoiding potential delays and reducing expenditure. The real financial benefit is for both buyers and seller, with the saving of hundreds of millions of pounds in wasted costs which arise from failed transactions.
The key difference since the introduction of HIPs is that the responsibility has now moved from the buyer to the seller.
"Everyday our clients initially complain about having to buy a Hip, it is only when the property is under offer do they realise how effective they are and that it was money well spent by speeding up the sale dramatically"
