The Law Society is warning home sellers and buyers to be vigilant with Home Information Packs (HIPs), after the government raised the alarm that some rogue HIP providers are putting the wrong documents in the packs.
Communities and Local Government (CLG) have today expressed concern that some HIPs providers were using 'Register Views' - photocopies of Land Register records - as evidence of title. CLG point out the HIPs Regulations 2007 require the inclusion of an 'official copy' from the Land Registry of the individual register and title plan, and that Register Views were insufficient.
Law Society vice-president, Paul Marsh, says:
"This is further proof that some HIPs providers do not understand, or choose not to understand, the regulations. The result is that sellers and buyers are being short-changed with sub-standard HIPs that will be quite rightly thrown in the dustbin by the buyer's solicitor.
If you are selling up, choose a solicitor to compile your HIP. Solicitors understand the regulations and can therefore ensure the HIP meets the required standard."
The Law Society points out that evidence of title is one of the compulsory documents required in a HIP. Copies of the official documents are available from the Land Registry. If there are errors in the register, the Land Registry will take responsibility for it. Register Views do not provide such a safety net for consumers.
Paul Marsh says: "Buyers as well as sellers need to make sure the property's HIP contains the correct documents. If it later emerges that there was an error and the property's HIP contains nothing more than a Register View, there is no recompense available from the Land Registry."

The Government has announced that Home Information Packs (HIPs) and Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) have been rolled out to all properties from 14th December 2007.

We can prepare an In House HIP quickly and efficiently and we will not Charge an admin fee, providing we are instructed in the property sale.

We apply for Official Local Authority Searches and our Energy Performance Certificate providers are fully Accredited and Insured.

For Example: A Hip in the Test Valley Area will cost £263 in Total. We do not make a profit from the HIP and it will belong to you not to an estate agent. Call or email us at srounding@rhsolicitors.co.uk if you wish to commission a pack.

HIPs and EPCs give house buyers energy ratings for homes for the first time, from A to G - similar to consumer friendly ratings for fridges, helping to lower fuel bills and reduce carbon emissions. The Packs are also supposed to help to cut costs for consumers by increasing transparency and competition
in the home buying and selling process.

Sellers of all properties should have a ready commissioned HIP available to buyers when marketing their property for sale. The Pack is intended to provide buyers with more information early on, giving them a picture of any issues they need to be aware of before making an offer. Most of the important information emerges after an offer has been made, during conveyancing. Issues that crop up at this stage may result in a buyer pulling out of a sale, which means wasted money on searches and legal fees.

In fact Home Information Packs aren’t radically different to at least some of the Components of the conveyancing process, it’s just that the seller will now have to arrange to put this information together before the property goes on the market. This may save time in the work of the buyer’s solicitor sorting it later on in the process. The only new thing is the introduction of the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC).

A HIP will consist of:

A HIP Index ( essentially a contents list of what’s in the HIP)

An Energy Performance Certificate or EPC ( a software-based calculation of the approximate energy costs for running the property, together with an indexed value of the property’s current energy efficiency and it’s potential energy efficiency after the relevant energy efficiency measures have been put in place.)

A Sale statement ( this gives the basic details of the property, such as the name and address of owner, address of the property being sold and tenure, e.g. Freehold or Leasehold)

Evidence of Title (usually the basic Land Registry registers and title plan)

Local and Drainage Searches (or a record of the fact that they have been ordered)

Homes can be marketed as soon as the HIP and its contents have been ordered – You don’t have to wait until the pack is delivered in order to get the property on the market.

The best person to ask to provide you with your HIP is us, your solicitors, who may well have acted for you when you bought and already have the majority of the information on file or in a Borrowers Deed Packet. We can provide you with your HIP which can be used to market your home with Any estate agent and thereby alleviating the need of using one estate agent and having the problem of moving your HIP when you change estate agent.

Remember, estate agents will make money out of HIPs – so make sure, by using Ranson Houghton Solicitors, that you get a good deal (e.g. including a proper official Local Authority Search rather than a less reliable search merely carried out by a Personal Search Agent). In the estate agency trade press, there have been hundreds of articles about how estate agents can profit out of the implementation of HIPs, so don’t feel guilty about making sure you get the best value for money, by talking to US FIRST.

The Government has today (17 August 2007) announced that Home Information Packs (HIPs) and Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) will be rolled out to three bedroom properties from 10 September 2007.

Following the introduction of the packs for homes with four bedrooms and above on 1 August 2007, the Government has today (17 August 2007) confirmed there will be enough energy assessors, nationally and regionally, to roll out to three bedroom homes next month, having taken into account the operation of HIPs in the market.

HIPs and EPCs will give house buyers energy ratings for homes for the first time, from A to G - similar to consumer friendly ratings for fridges, helping to lower fuel bills and reduce carbon emissions. The packs will also help to cut costs for consumers by increasing transparency and competition in the home buying and selling process.

Sellers of four bedroom properties and larger from the 1 August 2007 and three bedroom properties from 10 September 2007 should have a ready-prepared HIP available to buyers when marketing their home for sale. The pack will provide buyers with important information early on, giving them a transparent picture of any issues they need to be aware of before making an offer. Currently most of the important information only emerges after an offer's been made, during conveyancing. Issues that crop up at this stage may result in a buyer pulling out of a sale, which means wasted money on searches and legal fees.

In fact, Home Information Packs aren't radically different to some of the components of the current conveyancing process, it's just that the seller (or to use the technical term, vendor) will now have to put this information together before the property goes on the market, rather than the buyer's solicitor sorting it out later on in the process. The only new thing is the introduction of the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC).

A HIP will consist of:

• A HIP Index (essentially a contents list of what's in the HIP)
• An Energy Performance Certificate or EPC (a software-based calculation of the approximate energy costs for running the property, together with an indexed value of the property's current energy efficiency and its potential energy efficiency after the relevant energy efficiency measures have been put in place.)
• A Sale Statement (this gives the basic details of the property, such as name and address of owner, address of the property being sold and tenure, e.g. freehold or leasehold)
• Evidence of title (usually the basic Land Registry registers and title plan)
• Local and Drainage Searches (or a record of the fact that they have been ordered)

Homes can be marketed as soon as the HIP and its contents have been ordered – you don't have to wait until the pack is delivered in order to get your home on the market.

The best person to ask to provide you with your HIP is US, your Solicitor, who no doubt acted for you when you bought your home and already has the majority of the information on file. We can provide you with your HIP pack which can be used to market your home with ANY estate agent and thereby alleviating the need of using one estate agent and having the problem of moving your HIP when you change estate agent.

Remember, estate agents will make a fortune out of HIPs – so make sure that you get a good deal. In the estate agency trade press, there are hundreds of articles about how estate agents can profit out of the implementation of HIPs, so don't feel guilty about making sure you get the best value for money, by talking to US.

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