Please be aware some of the information on this site regarding HIPs though it was accurate at the time is now out of date.  Please look at forum post dates when relying on information posted here. Particularly watch out for posts before the following crucial dates when changes to HIPs regulations occurred:

18th July - Home Condition Report changed from a mandatory to a voluntary document (you don't have to include it now)  

1st June - HIPs introduction delayed until August 1st.  1st Jan 2008 'Drop dead date' for when properties marketed without HIPs before 1st August/10th September will need them is removed temporarily to be redesignated at a later date.  Properties CONTINUOUSLY marketed without a hip will not need one even a change of agent occurs as long as there is no 'gap'. 

1st August - HIPs introduced for properties with 4 or more bedrooms. 

10th September - HIPs intoduced for properties with 3 or more bedrooms.  

THIS INFORMATION WAS CORRECT AS OF19 OCTOBER 2007
 

The bottom line with HIPs is that it is a constant moving target that should have been abolished back in the summer. It is merely another tax on an already teetering market backed by inexperienced and wholly ineffective so-called inspectors who have no real-world experience beyond the government-sponsored brain-washing 'training' program that they have to undergo.

Hopefully the HIP will be abolished and those petty minded little sadists who come to 'assess' your home will be lined up and shot with the rest of the liars and cheats we have to deal with every day. 

This information correct as of 9:34 on the 19 OCTOBER 2007.

SHARK! 

I have come on this forum to give some much needed information to the public on HIPs.

I have not come on here to argue with people cowering behind empty profiles spouting non-useful tosh.  I don't feed forum trolls. Have a nice day. 

Who's arguing and what has upset you? No-one's hiding and no-one is 'spouting' anything. I was merely pointing out that the way this whole fiasco has been handled has left a large number of people both confused and at the mercy of predatory and unqualified so-called HIP Inspectors. These useless to55ers have a mandate that adds nothing to the value of the house or to ease the moving process. Their 'assessment' is based on nothing more than observations that any half-witted gibbon could do and yet the beleaguered home-owner has to pay this on top of a professional survey for mortgage or structural assessment.

If I have offended you for some reason, then I apologise, but your venom appears to be misguided unless you happen to be the one person in the world who thinks that this HIP process has any merit whatsoever.

SHARK!

PS: You might want to review your assessment of "non-useful tosh" given that I have been here a lot longer than you and have advised possibly hundreds of people who have given thanks - and done it for FREE. What's your angle here? 

Chriserenity:

I have come on this forum to give some much needed information to the public on HIPs.

I have not come on here to argue with people cowering behind empty profiles spouting non-useful tosh.  I don't feed forum trolls. Have a nice day. 

AH, I have just bothered to read your profile as something was niggling me.

My apology is summarily withdrawn. 

I hope you had a LOUSY day and continue to do so until this wretched and iniquitous sales tax is abolished! What value can you possibly give to anyone? Don't bother replying ...

SHARK! 

I object to your comments about Domestic Energy Assessors and Home Inspectors.  Perhaps you would like to furnish the people reading this thread with your reasons why you think Energy Performance Certificates are a waste of time?  Do you even know what information they contain? 

I'd like to say I appreciate the HIPs system is not perfect with full market rollout not yet on the table.  HIPs are the first step to changes to the housing market.  They are not intended to be a panacea to the creaking inefficient system we have now, but they are the first dose of medicine. 

Love them or hate them HIPs are here to stay.  People need guidance in making the most of them hence my presence as I said.   

My vested interest in making HIPs succeed is my livelihood and personal ethical code.  My identity is plain to see on my profile and I have nothing to hide. 

Perhaps you have a vested interest in killing them off hmm? 

Ouch! You are an unhappy individual aren't you, BeachedWhale?

Did your Daily Mail arrive late this morning?

Don't bother replying either, I just like posting rhetorical questions too.

Meanwhile, back on Planet Earth, specifically in the UK where we are bound to complying with the EU directive on introducing Energy Performance ratings on domestic property, in order to meet with the conditions of the Kyoto protocol, in order to  reduce our carbon emissions, etc etc...

 oh sorry, no, let's forget about that save the planet greenwash. Bladderwrack has decided Climate Change is a govt stealth tax coverup.

 
minnow!
 

Shark,

Me thinks you are slating the wrong people here. Weren't HIPs created by the Government? I believe you should apologise to the assessors and inspectors who as far as I am aware were only trying to make a career out of this new industry. I am not involved with all this but I do not see how insulting people you do not know can be viewed as anything other than mindless drivel.

I could just be very cynical but how strange that the last two posts are new forum members who have only joined this evening?? Or just one of those coincidences!!!

Fitzcaraldo you state you just like posting rhetorical questions but this is your first post on any of these forums, or were you just generalising?

However, many people are not happy with these HIP's and I have not heard one person have anything positive to say about their experiences with these new accessors who come into their homes, I am not talking about on these forums but out in the real world.

Take as you find is my motto, in fact at the moment I am just glad we have decided to put our home move on hold until the wheat from the chaff have been sorted.

DD

devonshire,

 yes, I only joined a few minutes ago but hopefully I am allowed to join in on the forum?

I am pretty uncertain about the need for HIPs but frustrations with them are surely not the fault of the new assessors. Are they not individuals like us? Resorting to personal insults is pretty low in my opinion given noone on here can know all the assessors in the country. I haven't explored much of this site yet but I hope it has a higher standard than I have found here otherwise I shall not be bothering to come back soon!

Hi DD,

Well, we've done quite a few inspections now and have had just one unhappy seller which isn't bad going.  Therefore I take your point though that some people are unhappy with the inspections - in fact we find people are sceptical when we arrive but when we explain what we're doing and why its good for their sale 9x out of 10 we leave a happy homeowner behind.  If you have any questions about the inspection i'd be happy to answer them as my sig states! 

If you really are worried about the quality of inspector there are ways of ensuring you get a qualified person.  You can search for them here: www.landmark.co.uk Only qualified inspectors are listed.  Also, you could get a recommendation from someone else who has sold recently in your area.  Most independent assessors have business cards that can be passed on. 

Hope this helps. 

If you take the time to look around the forum you will find that on the whole we are a very welcoming bunch.

I agree about the frustrations with the new HIPs are not the fault of the new assessors but as "non experts" we can only tell it how we've seen it. I have heard nothing but negative things from friends,colleagues and aquaintences who have had to access this service and not one of them have been happy with the attitudes and lack of professionalism of these people. You are right I am sure not all of them are the same, If you look around the site you may see a post I put on yesterday about really good customer service I received from Churchill, others replied that theirs had not been such a good experience, as i said above take as you find.

You will also see that we are not afraid of taking the micky out of ourselves and others, so some posts will have a serious subject content others most definately not. It's up to you whether you just want to be a serious contributer or if you want to have some fun as well. I am sure any contribution you can make will be welcome but don't necessarily expect for all of your views to be agreed with. In fact one forum member called me "vile" recently, but I got my own back, but I'm still here.

DD

Hi Chriserenity and other newcomers

Welcome to the Moneysupermarket forum.  We are a friendly bunch but this is a public forum and any posting is open to criticism and for this reason you have to be pretty thick-skinned.

Taking on the role of a HIP assessor was never going to be easy and you were always going to be putting yourself up for lots of flack.  I would assume, therefore, that you are able to weather the storm and continue in your role.  Not necessarily everyone is going to agree with you.  The HIPs are new and unwelcome at the moment.  Until they become part of every day life, they will come in for lots of stick.  Don't take it personally, it was afterall the Government that devised these HIPs.  You must have known when you decided to take the job on that because the average person cannot have a pot at the Government, then you are the next in the firing line. 

If you can't take the stick on here then you're not going to fare well in your job.  You have a long way to go.  You've decided to take this route and it is your livelihood.  HIPs were never going to be well received and I've yet to meet someone who has a good word to say for them.  It's a tough job but somebody's gotta to it!!!  Good luck - you'll need it.  For the record, this was posted in a friendly tone, not critical, purely passing on my point of view.

Bad Shark, Bad Shark!

I unreservedly apologise to any non-HIP inspector-type people who believe I may have said something offensive to anyone else.

Strange to see two newcomers so quickly after a sharking though - that has to be a record.

I do, however, stick to my point. In our region, the HIP Inspectors are as welcome as a bout of flu (and I cleaned that line up). Living in one of the poorest regions of the country with the highest cost of housing, these people have held the housing market to ransom and in some cases have left homeowners in tears. I know, because I am the one that many turn to down here to try and help them. Since this cretinous process was forced on the population, those whom have chosen to line their pockets doing this career should count themselves amongst the tax gatherers and traffic wardens of the world. We didn't want this thing, and we didn't need it and it has done nothing to "smooth the home-purchase transaction" whatsoever. The whole eco-hair-shirt-tree-hugging debate has gone too far already and there is a real backlash starting against those who would force an agenda that has little to do with climate change and everything to do with lining pockets at the expense of the hard working individuals.

Nuff said ...

SHARK! 

just to clear up one evident misunderstanding : there is no such thing as a 'HIP inspector'.

The Energy Performance certificate is carried out by Domestic Energy Assessors. The rest of the HIP - searches etc is carried out by solicitors or legal search companies. Most of the criticism aimed at the HIP is regarding the legal searches - whetehr they will be accepted by mortgage lenders, the time they take to compile etc, and to be fair this is only likely to get worse when leasehold properties come into the HIP realm.

The EPC on the other hand is  an EU requirement. The housing stock of the UK is hideously energy inefficient (indeed a huge number of houses fall below the 'thermal-poverty' line)  and a vast effort is required to improve this. The Uk is committed to a 20% reduction in domestic carbon emissions by 2010. The average home can save £300 on energy bills a year, and many tons of carbon pumped into the atmosphere.

Unless you are a climate-change-denier it is difficult to see how this can be seen as a bad thing.

As for the iniquity of this new stealth tax - well, the money for an EPC does not go to the government, so 'tax' seems a little inaccurate. And with the  £100 -120 it costs (of which the assessor may see as little as £60) against the £300k or whatever the average house price is at the moment to get a clear picture of one's carbon footprint and identify the areas where savings can be made - less than the cost of subscribing to the Daily Mail.