Update.

 HIPS now only needed on 4 bed homes and larger, from 1st August 2007.

From August 1st, homeowners in England and Wales will be legally obliged to supply buyers with the packs, known as HIPs, which will include a certificate that rates a property’s energy efficiency. Packs will also contain details of the lease, local searches and a list of items included in the sale.

However you need THE HIP in place before you can market your property, which will cause a delay and more expense.

Plus you cannot even test the water as far as your property is concerned without having to pay for a hip first.

• So the Cheaper option is to not bother with the HIP at all.

• Refuse the HIP and market your propery when you want to.

• Trading Standard do not consider HIP violations a top priority

• If i was selling my house then i would gladly take the risk and not bother.

• It is estimated that HIPs could cost between £400 and £650 to produce. But a shortage of qualified “housing inspectors” has prompted fears that suppliers of the packs will exploit the situation and charge fees of up to £1,000.

• This is profiteering and the offenders should be shot…

  Edited in line with Terms of Service Community Editor

I would rather risk paying the fine too, but the problem people will face is that their Solicitor would firstly refuse to do the transaction, as they are duty bound to complete the transaction in accordance with the law,  also the lenders would not allow the transactions to complete, without all the legal paperwork being in place.

I can't see anything wrong with private sellers being allowed to compile their own HIP packs, along with obtaining the local authority searches themselves. That would cut out a lot of the opportunity for some estate agents and Solicitors, to excessively charge for what in real terms, could amount to a modest actual expense by individuals utilising the DIY method.

IMO this Government is forcibly meddling in what should be a totally private transaction between Vendors and buyers,  they stand to gain even more from the taxes that are already extremely high on house transactions.

The essential part of the HIP, except the energy efficiency report, is already included in a house purchase. Local searches, title plan, etc, are already being paid for in your conveyancing fees under the current system.

Things like the house use form, and list of items included, though required during a typical house purchase, are not currently mandatory in the HIP, but some providers are including them as standard. A basic HIP should not cost any more than about £400 inc VAT. Shop around and u should get it cheaper, especially in the first few months. Some estate agents and solicitors are incorporating the amount into their own fees. Some are simply using a third party HIP provider. U should only be paying £600+ if you live in an 8+ bedroom house, or wish to include things like the Home Condition Report (only useful thing they couldve included as standard for potential purchasers but didnt) and Neighbourhood Report etc. These are all optional extras, and not yet mandatory. Any purchaser will still need to have a survey undertaken, either for their own satisfaction or for lending purposes.

A DIY HIP is an idea, however u would still need to employ a qualified Domestic Energy Assessor to carry out the energy efficiency report, so u may as well just get a provider to do it all for u.

If u refuse to have a HIP done after 1st June, no estate agent should agree to sell your house for u. Its the responsibility of the person (agency) marketing the property to ensure that a HIP is available or else they will get sued. So u would be left trying to sell the property privately. Your purchaser probably wont get a mortgage without one either.

Remember, HIPs have been introduced by the government, most estate agents and conveyancers are against them and dont see them as an aid at all.

Just put your property on the market before the 1st June and avoid it until December!

From above. The 'cheaper option' is risk the £200.

A number of hours ago I started looking at the prospect of doing my own HIPS as I plan to sell privately. From all the Government/non Government information I read i received exactly the picture above. Then I thought well if i do it myself it won't cost much and anyway as marketing would be in a public place I would be 'asking for it'.

Then I had a thought as mine would be 'private' in the event of a sale as a solicitor has to go by the letter of the law and no matter how authentic my documents were/looked to cover himself wouldn't he simply duplicate my work? If so one is effectively ruling out a private HIPS and isn't one left with breaking the law or getting a company to do a £300 + job?

The fine is £200 per instance of marketing not per HIP as in you can be charged multiples of £200. I would agree that local trading standards don't consider HIP enforcement a high priority but other estate agents do who love to tell local TSOs if the local competition and/or private sellers are marketing without HIPs.

To clarify the rules on private sales - if you are initiating marketing i.e. you tell more than one person that you are selling in any way shape or form you require a HIP.

How do you think the benefits agencies catch cheats? They get tips from other people telling them that such and such is on benefits and working over the maximum amount of hours.

My advice as a HIP provider is get a HIP if you are required to. Don't try and save money by not getting one as you will most likley be found out either by someone 'telling on you' or you'll run into difficulties when the buyers solicitor requests access to your HIP in order for them to proceed with the conveyancing - they will ask questions and the TSO is only a phone call away.

Do I have a vested interest in telling you not to avoid HIPs? Yes. Does this mean I'm wrong? No.

Chriserenity, thank you for your informed and fair minded comment. I would appreciate your comment on the following:-

My property was on the market before a HIP was needed and I terminated my Agreement with my Agent recently for reasons other than a wish to take my property off the market; quite the contrary I was keen to sell it up to the 'last minute' which can be shown. As we had come to a parting of the ways I decided to continue to market my property privately which for a key reason is credible. How do I stand with TSO please?

On a different matter when I looked into the prospect of a DIY HIP purely for the purpose of branding my property 'new on the market' in due course if all else fails as above I could not find out where an EPC could be commissioned or how much.

Kind regards

drumster

Hi Drumster,

Regarding your private marketing after cessation of marketing with the agent what proof can you offer that you continued to market your property privately? It would need to be a website listing, a board up outside or a listing in a local property mag - something like that.

You can commission an EPC from your local Energy Assessor or Home Inspector directly. Goto https://www.hcrregister.com/FindAssessorInspector and type in your postcode - be aware that this site lists all accredited inspectors who cover your postcode so be sure to pick someone close by (you shouldn't have any problems). Quite a few people are prepared to travel 40 miles to do an EPC. If you search then go back and search again the site will yield different results - its a bit rubbish but its the best way of finding someone accredited (only licenced assessors are listed on the site).

Your being concerned about your property being listed as 'new to market' has merit I think. I've had sellers ask for one of my HIPs if only to know if a HIP was available as a judge of how long the property has been marketed for! Savvy people eh?

Is that clear?

Thank you again.

As far as 'proof' is concerned the situation is this. My area and particularly block of flats is of interest and very well known to a specific close knit community. In fact of in excess of fifteen viewings all but a couple were from said community. I have known certain of the established particulary well respected members of the community for many years who, in their business and personal life are in day to day contact with their community. These people are well aware of the reason I terminated my Agency and know that I still want to sell my flat but this is a hopeless time to sell so I keep in touch wih them 'discreetly' with a view to offering a commission of some sort when the market stabilisies. I would have said to my Agent "Stop marketing actively and keep me on your books 'in the bottom drawer' only to be dusted off in special situations so as to avoid for example sitting on Rightmove for a year or two when people inevitably say "What's wrong with it?" I must emphasise that I did not realise that the 'community' was as keen as they are before I engaged an Agency and also subsequently this is not about saving Agency commission from any angle but I have come to this because I do not wish to deal with an Agent again if at all possible so to be absolutely clear if someone approached me and said they wanted the same commission as an Agent it would be preferable to being on the books of an Agent for me. As a layman in a grey(?) area I think I have a good case but do you? I very much appreciate your continuing interest and I confirm that I am not being lazy asking you because I have 'Googled', received other help here and contacted 'experts' with some success.

It is a grey area yes but the rulebook given to local TSOs is to use a rule of thumb. That being if its being marketed to the public or a section of the public then marketing is said to be going on.

Sounds to me like you maintain the inclination to sell but are not actually marketing.your property any more. So in this circumstance from what you've told me I would say you would need a HIP when you decided to sell again.