New House files

[Ric.ror]

Does anyone have any info about the new house files that will be introduced when you sell your house

[Oneeyedvic]

I was talking to an Estate Agent about this last week - apparently things are changing on a weekly basis so any info you get now, may change in a couple of months.

I beleive it is planned to be coming in around June next year.

[frazerd]

The product you refer to is called a HIP's (Home Inspection Pack). Basically in about July 2007 anyone selling their home will have to obtain a Sellers Pack, by law, which will include local searches, energy efficiency details of your house and it's heating, guarantees for woodworm, roofs, electrical safety check etc etc. It constitutes what could be considered an MOT of your home for a buyer (and their mortgage provider) of your house, to examine before making considering purchase. The total cost to pay a local 'HIPS' surveyor, who will undertake this task for you, is being estimated at up to �1000, and will only be valid for about 3 months, after which - if you haven't sold your property - it will need to be updated, with additional costs. The government insist this will speed up purchases and put off time wasters who are just testing the house market for prices. In truth it's just another stealth tax by dear Mr Blair, as the package is vatable and will earn the government millions. Mr Cameron on the other hand promises to abolish it if the Tories are elected. I know who I'm going to vote for.

[Jim79]

Frazerd is on the right lines - however HIP's are an abbreviation for Home Information Packs.

They will come into force in July 2007 and will be a legal requirement for those people wishing to see their houses.

It is part of a streamlined buying process and the packs will contain local searches, a property condition report and copy of the lease (if a leasehold property) energy ratings etc.

It is unsure who will be the best placed to provide these packs for the vendor's - It may be a case of giving estate agents more power in the long run as they are ideally placed in the house buying process. I would love to lobby to get estate agents regulated.

There may be scope for solicitors to provide the packs also.

The cost of the HIP's will almost certianly be based on the property value so always bear this in mind!

Hope that helps.

[Oneeyedvic]

To give some further info, the estate agent I was speaking to explained that whilst there would be a pack, you would have the option of purchasing it outright at a cost of around �700 or you could have it put onto the estate agent's fee.

At the moment, one of the biggets sticking points is that the lenders are insisting that the survey in a homepack will not be sufficient and that another survey will need to be done - therefore there will be an extra expense and no ime saving.

As I said previously, this is all changing on a weekly basis - one thing that changed in the last couple of weeks is that there was aloophole that if you placed your house on the market in May, you wouldn't need to produce a pack indefinitely. this loophole has been changed and all houses on the market by October next year will need to have a pack.