WHY HIPS?

"The purpose of these regulations is twofold: to improve the home buying and selling process for consumers by improving the flow of timely information and; improve sustainability by reducing carbon emissions."
Baroness Andrews OBE

WHY FIRSTHIPS?

Firsthips seeks to achieve government goals by providing a central platform, available to all users involved in the property transaction, while helping each maintain their existing professional relationships.

We believe that it is the seller's lawyer who should assemble the HIP as currently, under the existing system nearly all documents in the pack are obtained by them. Lawyers/Estate agents should not be expected to sign long-term commitments or pay referral fees. Improve home buying/selling process for consumers by improving the flow of timely information.

 

 

I can't really remember life without Firsthips! Robert and the team are always there to help with the minefield that HIPs can be at times - I just wouldn't use another provider now - Firsthips does exactly what it says on the tin!! Prompt and efficient service from a team of guys with a good sense of humour - couldn't really ask for more.


Sue Wilbraham, Aventria Asset Management

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Key Features


What is a Home Information Pack?
Home Information Packs will become compulsory for all sellers of residential property (for the sale of four bedroom properties and larger, with smaller properties being phased in as soon as sufficient energy assessors are fully qualified) in England and Wales with effect from August 2007. It will be an offence to market a property unless a Home Information Pack (HIP) has been commissioned for inspection by a prospective buyer.

The purpose of the Home Information Pack is to ensure that all relevant documents and searches are available when the property is marketed. Currently this is left until after a buyer has been found, often resulting in delays of weeks or even months. Many transactions fall through after the buyer has seen the survey which is often not available for some weeks, during which time the buyer may have paid for searches and other fees and expenses. The new rules recommend that the seller obtains a Home Condition Report from an approved home inspector so that the buyer can easily identify any potential problems with the property before making an offer and incurring expense.

Final Regulations have been published providing that the contents of the pack should be split into two categories; documents that are "compulsory" and must be included and other documents that are "optional" and are recommended to be included. Documents in the compulsory category will include:

Documents in the optional category can include:

Where the seller experiences difficulty in obtaining certain documents, he will be allowed to market the property provided he can establish that he has used all reasonable efforts to obtain the documents within 28 days. This could happen with searches or a leasehold property where the seller is experiencing difficulty in getting management information from the landlord or managing agents.

Will it help speed up the process?
With the current system a great deal of delay can occur while the seller's conveyancers assemble all the required documentation, so the HIP will certainly help the process.

Once a sale has been agreed the parties will still have to instruct their conveyancers to conclude the legal aspects of the transaction to include the preparation of the contract and the process of exchange of contracts through to legal completion. Inevitably some delay will occur during this part of the process. England and Wales is almost unique in its system of chain transactions where each seller has to find a buyer for his own property who will exchange contracts and complete simultaneously with the seller's purchase of the property he is buying. Without doubt, this is the most serious cause of delay. A chain of buyers and sellers who have joined at different times, or a chain with a broken link is still going to be the major cause of delay and frustration for all concerned.

What is the Firsthips solution?
We firmly believe that the best person to assemble the HIP is the seller's conveyancer. Under the existing system nearly all the documents in the pack are obtained by the seller's lawyer so it makes sense for the lawyer to have control over this process. His skill and experience in dealing with this aspect of the transaction will assist in making sure that all the correct documents are available, and any shortcomings or potential problems dealt with during that process.

The government are moving towards an electronic online system of conveyancing but this is in its early stages and will only assist with certain limited aspects of the transaction. Under the current system, the vast majority of conveyancers send correspondence and documents through the post with inevitable delay. Whilst many conveyancers have embraced the internet and email, it is still considered difficult to combine this technology with existing systems that generally differ from one conveyancer to another. Firsthips solution is to provide an online facility that will enable conveyancers to easily communicate with each another. All communications and documentation between the conveyancers across the system will be stored in a separate online record that can even be accessed by the agents and clients so that they can follow the progress of the transaction. An online database will gradually be established as the transaction progresses enabling all the required documentation and legal forms to be produced automatically online.

Firsthips is committed to providing a solution to the problems and frustrations that arise over the delays in the typical house sale transaction. Not only will the Firsthips system provide an economical, quick and easy to use system for the assembly and storage of the HIP, but it will take the process a stage further by providing a unique online conveyancing facility that will speed the transaction through to an early completion.