Hips update:
10th of September 2007 sees all three bedroomed houses needing a HIPS assessment before going to market. We offer a cash sale, as private house buyers, selling to us is exempt from needing a home information pack saving you between three hundred and one thousand pounds!
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What is HIPS
Controversially, on the June 1st 2007, new legislation was supposed to be introduced by Parliament in England and Wales named Home Information Packs or H.I.P.S as an abbreviation. This was then delays to the 1st August. In line with EU directive 2002/91/EC, which ultimately will be a Pan-European law, it is designed to help to make residential properties more energy efficient and friendly to the environment.
To simplify its objective, it is similar to the triple AAA ratings given to white goods such as freezers, fridges, washing machine, dishwashers and tumble dryers. At a glance, a potential buyer of your property can tell energy consumption and efficiency of the building.
14th December 2007:
All homes sold in the UK now need to apply for HIPs before going to market and need a full assessment available before sale.
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If you want to sell your house after this date, you cannot avoid HIPS if you decide to sell your residential home through conventional methods such as estate agents or UK property portals.
The cost is estimated to be in the region of four hundred to a thousand pounds depending on locality and size of your house.
Immediately, there are several questions raised if you want to sell your house:
- Will it slow down my sale?
- Will it make my house more expensive?
- Will it make my house harder to sell?
- Can I avoid paying HIPS?
We believe, coupled with a raise in mortgage and borrowing interest rates just before H.I.P.S introduction, and a second rise in rise directly after its launch, it will.
First, you will have to arrange for an official HIPS inspector to visit your house to conduct a survey. Depending on your locale on demand, this could take time to arrange. Once the inspection has been undertaken you will have to wait for the official documentation to be posted out to you by snail mail BEFORE you can actually put your home up for sale.
Second, although the governing body of estate agents say different, their is nothing to stop different agency demanding that you have to have an inspection by their recognised inspector, so in effect you could either be tied to just one estate agency OR face the prospect of having to have numerous HIPS reports undertaken.
Third, the actual cost of H.I.P.S, estimated to be in the region of four hundred to one thousand pounds, WILL increase the selling price of your home by more than the amount your pay, as property agents will take into account any price drop on your property to accommodate a sale. This doesn't mean that the actual amount your receive will be greater, just that the actual sale price will be higher.
Avoid paying HIPS
There are several exclusions from HIPS; the only one useful to a residential sale is selling privately. A private sale enables you to avoid HIPS completely.
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