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Landlords urged to get ready for October 1st

hiprightnews — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 18:50:51 +0000

Landlords and letting agents are being urged to get ready now for the October 1st deadline when EPCs will be extended to the rental sector.

Any rental property undergoing a change of tenant after October 1st will require an EPC to be produced and a copy shown to the new tenant. The EPC has a very long validity at 10 years and there is still much unease within the ranks of Domestic Energy Assessors who feel that the period is too long to cover what could amount to wholesale changes to the property, out of date energy costings on the certificate and an ongoing lack of work for DEAs.

David Lea of Hipright recently attended a workshop in London held by the Department of Communities & Local Government. When questioned on the life span of the EPC, delegates were informed that it was part of a European directive and even if the government wished to change the length of validity they would need the current system to have run for at least five years before they would make any decisions on its future.

Although many landlords and agents will undoubtedly leave it until the deadline to act, it is expected that in light of spiralling energy costs, many will take the initiative and act early by getting EPCs commissioned on their properties and possibly use these to promote lower running costs or planned future energy saving initiatives for their properties to potential tenants.

Hipright is a national supplier of Home Information Packs and a supplier of Energy Performance Certificates throughout the Midlands. For more information on HIPs & EPCs call Hipright on 0845 680 1875 or visit http://www.hipright.co.uk

Large increase in private HIP orders for Hipright

hiprightnews — Sat, 03 May 2008 22:28:03 +0000

April for Hipright saw a large increase in the amount of HIPs produced for private homeowners. It would appear that the general public are increasingly becoming wiser about options for sourcing their packs, the increased flexibility gained from this and often the large cost savings associated.

Discussions with other industry leaders has also backed up these findings and we expect to see considerable increases in private instructions throughout the remainder of 2008.

Speaking at a recent meeting of Home Information Pack providers, Hipright partner David Lea commented “With the large recent increase of independent pack providers and a willingness from the public to search for alternatives, it seems that the once standard practice of sourcing the HIP from the Estate Agent is rapidly becoming a thing of the past.

Whilst the agents will undoubtedly retain a very large market share for the foreseeable future, it is without question that smaller independent pack providers will continue to flourish and increase market share in what is still an incredibly tough market”

Hipright goes national on HIPs

hiprightnews — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 08:24:53 +0000

29/04/08 Hipright are pleased to announce that we now offer a full nationwide service on Home Information Packs (HIPs). Commencing with immediate effect, we can now offer the outstanding service and quality of Hipright products to you no matter where you are located.

All our packs are fully insured, offer online viewing, are produced by experienced property industry professionals and can be used with any Estate Agent & Solicitor nationwide. All this is backed up with a level of customer support second to none and a reputation built on service. You can trust Hipright to deliver your HIPs on time, every time and at a highly competitive price.

Partner David Lea commented “This is a major step forward for Hipright and allows us to offer our products previously only available to those in the East Midlands to customers nationwide. We have secured an excellent network of Domestic Energy Assessors to carry out our EPCs and we are very much looking forward to this new challenge for our company” If you would like to speak to us about our new service then please contact Hipright on 0845 680 1875 or click for a quote at http://www.hipright.co.uk

HIP News

hipsandhcrs — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 08:52:30 +0000

As well as subscribing to this blog there is a wealth of HIP infomration on the Web.

It is probably fair to say that the governement funded news resources such as www.homeinformationpacks.gov.uk are best for accurate and up-to-date information about Home Information Packs and there is also a Governement funded newsletter that you can subscribe to and get the latest information on HIPs direct to your inbox.

If you want to get an idea about what is being said in the press about HIPs you can subscribe to a “Home Information Pack” newsfeed on Google News which you can, if you prefer, setup so that you receive these HIP news alerts direct to your inbox.

Finally, there are the industry bodies such as the Association of Home Information Pack Providers (AHIPP) which provide a HIP news service on their site. Obviously, it is their role to be pro-HIP.

Which? criticises Home Infomration Packs

hipsandhcrs — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 08:56:11 +0000

The Consumer Association, Which? claims that there are few signs that Home Information Packs (HIPs) have achieved the aim of improving the process of buying or selling a property as a large part of a HIP is out of date after four to six months; buyers and sellers have problems getting hold of a pack and HIP inspectors often fail to carry out basic checks.

However, this infomration is based on a very small sample size of just 23 estate agents which raises questions about the reliability and the vailidity of the data. It is nothing more than a snapshot and should not be seen as representative of the HIP Industry.

Trials suggest HIP Success

hipsandhcrs — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 10:18:47 +0000

According to research carried out by Mori home buyers are satisfied with the Home Information Pack (HIP) and are starting to use energy performance certificates to make their properties greener.

All properties marketed for sale in the UK need a HIP

hipsandhcrs — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 10:10:41 +0000

Some people still do not realise that from December last year all properties for sale in England and Wales need a Home Information Pack (HIP).

It is also worth pointing out that the the introduction of home info packs is only part of the broader initiative to reform home buying and selling in England and Wales. Other initiatives include e-conveyancing which aims to speed up the process and provide better value for money.

What is in a Home Information Pack?

hipsandhcrs — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 21:27:20 +0000

The Home Information Pack includes a number of mandatory components, some optional items and some things that are prohibited.

Mandatory

Home Information Pack Index
Energy Performance Certificate
Local Authority Searches
Sale Statement
Evidence of Title
Drainage and Water Searches

There are additional requirements for freehold and leasehold properties.

Optional Content

Home Condition Report
Legal Summary
Home use/contents forms

Find out additional information about the content of a Home Information Pack.

Where does all the HIP traffic come from?

admin — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 21:52:30 +0000

Well the tail is growing with lots of weird and wonderful HIP keyword combinations bringing traffic to the site - January saw a 20% rise in unique visitors from December which is great. In terms of the the top performing keywords it will come as no surprise that they are, wait for it, HIP and HIPS.

Keywords:

hips 999 11.8 %
hip 655 7.7 %

In keyphrases:

hips 2230 9.5 %
hip 2092 8.9 %

HIP First Day Marketing

hipsandhcrs — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 12:24:32 +0000

From 1st June 2008 the Home Information Pack must be complete before a property can be marketed by an estate agent. At the moment, the HIP only has to be ordered for the property to be marketed. With some HIP providers seeing a delay of up to three weeks for the Home Information Packs to be completed, this could result in significant delay for sellers. One of the main reasons for delay is that local authorities and indeed the search companies are not providing search results quickly enough.

We believe that the problems with local authority searches will be largely overcome by June and buyers will benefit tremendously from a complete Home Information Pack when making a decision to put in an offer on a property or not.

Everybody wants to be an Energy Assessor

admin — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 21:57:32 +0000

I was just reading an article in the Guardian about the 900,000 enquiries that Learndirect gets every year from people wanting to switch career. The thing that struck me the most was that Domestic Energy Assessment was the most asked after. I hope this still isn’t the case as I don’t believe there is currently enough well paid work to sustain the existing energy assessors…

Do property searches in 24 hours, minister tells councils

admin — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 11:37:50 +0000

A shake-up of the way local authority searches are carried out will be announced by the government today in an effort to speed up the housebuying process, amid criticism that some councils are dragging their heels and may delay people’s home information packs.

Improved searches

hipsandhcrs — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 11:15:40 +0000

hipsandhcrs welcomes the announcement from junior housing minister Iain Wright last week that local authority and search companies must work together to improve the quality and speed of the search service. He expects searches to be provided within 24 hours a major improvement on the current situation with some local authority searches taking weeks.

Home buyers benefit from HIPS

admin — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 21:31:01 +0000

I have just read that savvy home buyers
are using the information provided in HIPs to negotiate discounts on properties. This is great, especially for first time buyers, but the full benefits of HIPS will only be realised when the Home Condition Report (HCR) is made manadatory as it is the survey that many stretched first time buyers skimp on resulting in the possibility of their buying properties with significant hidden defects without realising it. Additionally, the information in the HCR will provide further opportunities to negotiate discounts.

HIPs here to stay

hipsandhcrs — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 17:19:32 +0000

Well 2007 will be remembered in the property industry in England and Wales as the year in which Home Information Pack (HIP) were introduced to revolutionise the home buying and selling process. Unfortunately for HIPs, the rollout has not been managed as well as it could have been and it has coincided with a slowdown in the housing market; this has provided the reactionary forces within the property industry with excellent ammunition to use against Home Information Packs. It is expected that HIPs will continue to come under pressure throughout 2008 and the benefits of the packs will only start to be widely accepted twelve months from now in 2009.

HIP Provider Welcomes Full HIPs Rollout

hipsandhcrs — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 10:35:34 +0000

hipsandhcrs welcomes the recent announcement from the government that Home Information Packs (HIPS) will be rolled out to all properties in England and Wales from the 14th December 2007.

The only exception is for properties that were already for sale before the commencement date. This means that two-bed homes on the market before 14th December 2007 will not require a HIP. However, astute sellers still have the option to purchase a HIP to improve the saleability of their home.

Pressure from RICS to further delay full HIP Rollout

hipsandhcrs — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 21:22:45 +0000

The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors is putting pressure on the Government to further delay full rollout of Home Information Packs (HIPS). They claim that the introduction of HIPS has reduced the number of larger homes being marketed as speculative sellers are put off by the cost of the HIP. They also expect the number of smaller homes being marketed when HIPS are fully rolled out to be affected in the same way, which the Institute fears will make it even more difficult for first time buyers to get on the housing ladder.

The Association of Home Information Packs providers responded to the allegations by saying that the RICs had forgotten that first time buyers are set to benefit most from the full introduction of HIPS as they will not have to pay for the information in the HIP and they will be in a position to make a more informed decision.

AHIPP’s Deputy Director General, Paul Broadhead, said: “Research amongst our own Estate Agency members suggests that whilst the supply of property on the market is lower than usual at this time of year, the actual stock on Estate Agents books is not. This would suggest a lack of buyers in the market place, and as most buyers are sellers they are unlikely to put their home on the market if they are not thinking of moving.”

AHIPP responds to recent HIP criticism

hipsandhcrs — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 23:14:28 +0000

Spicerhaart’s recent research claims that only 10% of homebuyers read the Home Information Pack (HIP). In response to this, Paul Broadhead from the Association of Home Information Pack Providers (AHIPP) said it was too early to draw any definite conclusions about the way homebuyers use HIPs as the industry is only half way through the rollout. He went on to say that homebuyers are not being advised that HIPs are available in the majority of cases so they simply cannot read them.

Broadhead added:”Buyers are not being given a HIP automatically, instead they are having to request it specifically from the Estate Agent - so this figure does not surprise me.”

AHIPP, which hipsandhcrs are members of, has just issued an updated version of our HIP handling guide which states that as soon as estate agents receive the HIP it should be made available to homebuyers; this will help ease the situation.

hipCENTRAL Keyword Updates

admin — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 21:12:12 +0000

The site is currently doing well for “HIP Training” releated searches - remember these are based on the last 500 page loads and are only a snapshot.

Use EPCs to sell homes

admin — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 16:48:05 +0000

Estate agents could easily use a favourable EPC to sell one home over another. “This house will be £500 per month cheaper to run per year than the next is a selling point” will persuade some buyers.

The problem is that home owners are let down by estate agents that do nothing more than open the door for a prospective buyer.