wrote:

The Government have argued that HIPs will:
· Enable buyers and sellers to negotiate from an informed position;

Only works if the buyers (and their lenders) trust the information in
the pack. Many lenders have stated that they will not.

· Increase openness and transparency, helping to make the process
less adversarial and stressful;

Increase the chances of deception in reality.

· Help the parties commit more quickly to the transaction, shortening
the period of uncertainty between acceptance of an offer and contract
exchange;

It might speed up some of the conveyancing tasks. The survey / financial
parts of the transaction seem unlikely to be helped much though.

· Increase certainty by avoiding unwelcome surprises which may
otherwise cause renegotiation and transaction failures after terms have
been agreed;

Until contracts are exchanged renegotiation is still going to happen though.

· Reduce wasted costs resulting from high rates of failed
transactions;

Increase waste by adding extra surveys (one for the pack, another the
buyers/lenders trust!)

· Help shorten the overall transaction timescale.

Given the success of govt. legislation achieving its stated aims (i.e.
it more typically achieves the exact opposite) that ought to be worrying!

However, it means that if you want to sell your house you will have to
pay for a pack up front £700 - £1000 and some to the elements will
have to be renewed every 3 months. What happens if you don't sell, what

Then the exercise just cost you a grand.

happens if you the survey is inaccurate and you don't agree with it,

Complain to the surveyor, or more likely get another one.

Here seems to be one area where things can go pear shaped. If you were a
vendor with a (non obvious) secret to hide (serious structural problem,
dry rot etc) you can presumably commission additional surveys until you
get one that does not spot the fault - then that is the one you use in
the pack.

what's to stop the buyer simply dropping their offer at a later date
any way just because they think they can?

Nothing. In fact it will probably encourage it - after all the buyer has
already committed money to the pack, and some elements of which may now
be getting past their sell by date - so they have extra incentive to
complete the transaction, even if it means taking a hit they might
otherwise have not considered.

I'm just not sure that this system isn't just creating jobs for the
boys and loads of additional expense for the seller. If any one out
there sees it differently or can allay my fears let me know.

One worrying aspect on the the creating jobs for the boys front is going
to be the lack of suitable surveyors at the launch of the scheme. Govt
had hoped to have many thousands trained and ready to go - anticipating
many would come from a building or surveying background. The reality is
they only have a fraction of the anticipated numbers so far, and most
seem to be from non relevant backgrounds.


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/