Compile your own DIY home information pack or avoid it.
With no legal definition of a bedroom as David Marsden, the head of the property department at law firm Matthew Arnold and Baldwin, pointed out.
He said: “Under planning law, it is about whether rooms are habitable, not whether they are bedrooms or not.”
Therefore call your bedrooms, rooms you are HIPs and EPC free on all homes, 1 bed, 2 bed, 3 bed and 4 bedroom and larger properties.
Home information packs become law on August 1st 2007 only for 4 bedroom homes and larger. September for 3 bedroom. There is no obligation on sellers to buy a pack from an estate agent or a solicitor.
You can produce your own for around £225 and save hundreds of pounds. Commercial packs with the correct searches, start from around £600..
You must give a copy of the HIPs pack to potential purchasers within 14 days of request.
- Provided you think they can afford it, if not then you do not have to.
- A private sale does not require a pack..Friends Neighbors family members, when not offered for sale on the market.
The required documents are: with word and pdf examples.
- Home information index Basically a list of the packs content.
- Energy Performance Certificate.
- Sale statement Sale statement.doc
- Evidence of Land registry title example.
- Local and drainage-&-water searches. – A drainage and water search can be requested from your water supplier.
- Additional information for leasehold and commonhold sales, where appropriate.
You can also include a Home contents document in the pack, to layout what is included in the home sale and whats not. eg Carpets light fittings ect.
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The main cost is the energy performance certificate, which must be carried out by a qualified inspector and will cost at least £80 to £90.
The Land Registry (landregistry.gov.uk) will supply evidence of title for £6 and the title plan, again £6. After that, costs vary according to each local authority.
The Department of Communities and Local Government says the searches that the pack must include are the local land charges register (form LLC1) and the answers to “local enquiries”.
This looks rather cheap – often just £10-£15. But the extra cost is form con29, which the local authority will compile for you at a cost of £150 or more. Some councils (such as the London borough of Barnet) charge as much as £288.
- One way around this is to employ a specialist company to carry out the work. There are several of these available over the internet, with prices starting at around £70.
A drainage and water search is also required. Contact your local water company for costs. As an example, Thames Water charges £44.18 for a residential search, delivered within three days.
Altogether, a DIY pack is therefore going to cost at least £225 – half as much as a commercially-produced Hip.
Good information.
You can fill the local search forms in yourself but they are a bit daunting, but can save you a fortune. If you do them yourself remember to include a disclaimer in your pack ‘BUYER BEWARE’
They should only rely on this document as a guidence and are advised to carry out their own searches etc to make sure you cover your own liability. Many search agents also include such disclaimers. The most secure way is to go to the council and pay for one of their staff to do it. It is probably the most expensive way but it has it’s benefits, after all they know what they are doing as that is all they do day in, day out, and the liability passes to them. Some mortgage providers will only accept searches done directly by Local Authorities.
By: Chris on June 19, 2007
at 7:15 am
DIY sounds a perfectly feasible idea but how can we get the dreaded energy certificate done? Any ideas?
By: John Lancaster on June 19, 2007
at 12:47 pm
Hi John
Try this Link
https://www.hcrregister.com/VerifyAssessorInspector
and shop around, do not pay anymore than £80 with a lot of Domestic energy assessors happy with £45.
Brian
By: Hips on June 19, 2007
at 1:21 pm
[...] Diy HIPs [...]
One thing to consider is that you do not need the HIPs pack or the EPC energy certificate if you call your bedrooms Rooms
Thus a 4 bedroom home becomes 4 rooms upstairs plus bathroom en suite ect
By: Ruth Kelly and Hips « HIPs home seller packs domestic energy assessors on June 21, 2007
at 11:25 am
you will not find a dea for £45; thats what some of the Home Information Pack (HIP) providers try to pay a DEA with very little success. the majority of the same HIP providers will want at least £125 off you for the EPC on its own. The majority of HIP providers make money by selling conveyancing packages at inflated prices. The majority of the “major” HIP Providers swim in shark infested waters – guess who the biggest sharks could be?
By: Thedeaman2007 on July 3, 2007
at 5:56 pm
My friend has just qualified as a HIPs inspector. I wonder if they will get the same reputation as estate agents and traffic wardens.
By: Home Info Packs Suck on August 4, 2007
at 1:01 am
An EPC for £45 good luck with that.
By: A DEA on August 6, 2007
at 10:59 am
I want to downgrade from a 4 bedroomed house to a 2 bedroomed house, so I will have to pay three times for searched etc, I paid for searches when I bought my property, I will have to pay for searches to sell my property and I will have to pay for searches to buy a smaller property. What a crock of …..!
By: Maureen on September 1, 2007
at 8:49 pm
Apart from the statement which says that a private sale does not require a HIP, can you tell me the source for this? I’m anticipating a solicitor saying one has to be produced..
Thankyou, Bernard Duffield
By: B P Duffield on October 13, 2007
at 10:14 am
Hi D P Duffield
From the Government web site
Where no marketing of the residential dwelling alone has taken place it can be treated as a private sale and no home information pack is required (under Part 5 of the Housing Act 2004, the home information pack duties only apply where marketing activity takes place).
By: Hips on October 14, 2007
at 7:38 pm