Judging by the number of new instructions that we have been receiving over the past month, it seems that media rumours of the complete collapse of the housing market are somewhat over-rated. Naturally, the amount of negative media coverage about the state of the property market has led some buyers to be a little cautious, but the over-riding message is that the market is alive and well. It seems therefore that despite the introduction of HIPs, the property market has not ground to a complete standstill.
Government validates The Partnership’s concerns
In the most recent release of Progress (http://www.home-information.info/20080314) the government’s bulletin on HIPs, it has confirmed the concerns that we reported last month about some HIP providers not following the legislation accurately, and exposing their clients and estate agents to the risk of penalties for non-compliance. The government has also acknowledged the practice of some providers that deliberately do not proceed with the HIP once they have been ordered and appear not to have the full understanding of what is meant by the term, “official copies of title documents”.
MDA buys Richards Gray
As anticipated, and with the rapid growth in the number of HIP providers, the consolidation amongst them has already started. MDA, one of the larger HIP suppliers, announced at the start of March that it was acquiring Richards Gray, a smaller competitor. Although the acquisition is to be approved by the Office of Fair Trading, this transaction illustrates that companies are seeking to increase market share as quickly as possible and the most effective method is through appears to be through supplier, rather than client, acquisition.
Enhancements to HIP ordering and tracking
Following feedback from our clients, we are making some significant improvements to our HIP ordering and tracking system. While our system is recognised as being the simplest on the market, with single-click ordering from within Reapit, we’re adding more facilities to make ordering and tracking even easier.
After Easter, the upgrade will be complete, with new facilities including:
- Postcode address lookup
- Simplified HIP type ordering (already complete)
- Improved tracking including HIP search
- HIP instruction communication (already complete)
If you would like to know more about these features, please contact us.
