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Newsletter 5 - February 2007

Firsthips is live!

The Firsthips system is now live. If you have not done so already please register on our web site www.firsthips.net for completely free use of the system until the HIPs Day (1st June). Our system is currently being used by lawyers and estate agents in the Early Adopters Scheme and we welcome all estate agents and lawyers who would like to test our unique and economical solution to HIPs and e-conveyancing.

HIP Changes

Following feedback from the Area Trials, the government has announced changes to the requirements for when a property is first marketed.

The Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) must now be the first document in the HIP and must also be attached to the estate agent's particulars. The requirement for documents that are essential before a property can be marketed has been relaxed slightly and reduced to:

The remaining required documents (the local search, for example) can be omitted if they are not available at the point of marketing but there must be evidence that they have been commissioned and will be available in 28 days. For those properties already on the market before 1st June the deadline by which they will need a HIP has been extended from October 2007 to 31 March 2008. Under the original proposals a new HIP was required where a property was taken off the market for 28 days. This has now been extended to a full year from the original marketing date.


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