Our widely-reported warnings last summer about the problems that would be caused by the use of low-cost HIP content are coming true. In the last few days, we have had incidents whereby low-cost content has discouraged a buyer and is likely to cost a seller more to compensate for inadequate documentation. Where buyers and solicitors are looking at HIPs containing personal searches and incomplete title documentation there is a genuine risk that this may discourage some from proceeding with a particular property.
On a positive note, we have received intriguing feedback from search providers who are receiving fewer requests for non-HIP based searches such as environmental, indicating that some solicitors are not commissioning their own searches, but relying on HIP content, which is in direct contradiction to some perceptions.
Further details of these cases will be available later this week.
Newbuild Confusion
There is still confusion over whether newly-built properties require a HIP. Contrary to popular belief, all new-builds needed a HIP until May 2007 when a piece of enabling legislation stated that if a property complied with Building Regulations 2006 or later, a HIP was not required. Although it is hoped that this anomaly will be resolved by April, it will require software developers to fix the problem and this date is by no means guaranteed. Until that time, it is necessary to know under which regulations a property complies, as many will indeed be exempt.
Sellers check of forms
From the earliest introduction of HIPs, it was intended that the seller would check the contents of the sales statement and the index and sign them accordingly. Due to concerns about identify fraud, this was changed to just a tick instead. There were questions about the usefulness of such an anonymous mark and this requirement has now been quietly dropped. That said, the responsible person, either the seller or estate agent, is still responsible for ensuring that the sale statement and index are correct – they just don’t need to tick the box.
Energy efficiency leads to higher heating bills
We were intrigued to receive an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) which resulted in higher heating bills if all the energy saving methods were introduced. It appears that low-energy light-bulbs generate less heat than the traditional type, so to maintain the same temperature in a property, the heating will need to be increased, resulting in a higher bill for that utility, albeit offset by a reduced electricity requirement for the lighting the bulbs.
