H.I.P.S.

[woodbutcher]

how do other members feel about having to pay up to £500 extra for the opportunity of selling there home if they want to.

i for one am not in agreement with it, it is just more money out of your pocket for some one elses benefit.

almost forgot the +VAT we must keep the government in the manner they are accustomed to. i wish the would keep there hands out of everybodies pocket.

woodbutcher. :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

 

[Woody Alan]

I for one am rather tired of so called professionals (please don't let the pro's here be insulted) jumping on the bleed us dry bandwagon, through petty rules and regulations created for no good reason. If I want to buy a house with dodgy wiring and plumbing and windows that don't meet FENSA it should be my choice.

Example if I fit an ordinary window I have to demonstrate it's meeting the regs £50 quid via the council or pay someone registered to fit it. I mean what's that all about, why not put the onus on the glazing supplier to certify he's used the right glass quick log of details online job done.

My mate is a gas boiler engineer, I was chatting to him the other day about moving my boiler and he said he didn't want to do it because CORGI would be all over him not because of the boiler but because he would then be responsible for the safe operation of every gas appliance in the house even though he didn't touch them. He said most fitters won't touch a job under £500 these days because of the regs. There is a safety issue but of course the powers that be don't see they are driving more people illegitemate through regs than sorting them out. All these regs are justified by someone dying somewhere because they were unlucky,or daft enough to interfere with something they don't know enough about. Being registered and having a sistifficut doesn't neccessarily mean you are any better than a conscientious amateur who has time to dedicate to the job. I wonder if the cost will justify the outcome of this house nonesense, I doubt it.
If the government cared enough in truth they would have listened about building on flood plains and rubbish tips that councils pretended they didn't know what they were. The poor buggers who get flooded out won't be helped will they?
Please don't think for one minute I have any idea what I'm talking about so if you disagree, I agree you are correct, and any offence tthat may have been caused by this post in the current climate should be regarded as unintentional and non confrontational. xses
I am only writing this to get out of kangoing up the dining room floor to put my central heating galvanised duct in the floor...Oh, just thought am I allowed? I haven't been trained. Will it be a good or bad thing on my house report? done by an untrained amateur tut tut.

I think the whole world is going mad. Including me!

Cheers Alan ( some of the above rambling rant is tongue in cheek but gods sake who are we trying to protect here?)

 

[A_n_g_e_l_a]

I think HIPs are a good idea but has probably been diluted too much already by HMG.

Although you have to spend to produce your own HIP, you benefit from having HIPs on properties you wish to purchase available to you.

Being able to see a measure of thermal efficiency of a house before one gets too serious can only be useful. And having all the searches completed should save time and money with ones own solicitors on purchase. And what is £500 compared to an average house price of nearly £200K? Nothing.

 

[Newbie_Neil]

Please do not let this turn into a political thread.

Thanks,
Neil

 

[A_n_g_e_l_a]

Please do not let this turn into a political thread.

Hi Neil.

Do you notice people stop talking when you enter a room?

 

[TonyW]

Like A_n_g_e_l_a I think that HIPs could be a good idea - but...
From my limited knowledge you are required to provide Sale statement, Standard Searches, Evidence of title and Energy performance certificate. With the exception of the Energy Performance certificate all are covered by solicitors in the conveyancing process. Are these documents then to be taken as gospel and no further action from a solicitor required on these items? I do not think that the searches etc add a huge amount on to a solicitors bill and therefore question the estimated £500+vat being touted as the cost.

That leaves the thermal efficiency issues. Surely there is common knowledge about such things - double glazing, loft insulation, cavity wall insulation etc etc.
If you find a couple of houses - one with excellent efficiency one without - which one do you choose? I believe that most people would go for the one that they fall for regardless of thermal efficiency. After all you can look to improve on poor efficiency!

£500 agreed is not a lot to spend relating to average 4 bed house prices. But as this thing grows it will impact the lower end of the market to a much higher percentage.

The optional documents Home condition report,Legal Summary and Home Use/Contents are probably of more value to a buyer. How long before they become compulsory pushing the cost even higher?

So at this time I cannot say I am for this

EDIT
Just a thought on the cost and who should pay -- Estate Agents!! On a £200k house sale and assuming a 2% + vat charge by an agent will cost the seller £4,700. What does the average seller get for this - some photos in the local paper, advertising leaflet sent to prospective buyers, if lucky accompanied viewings and if unsold within a few weeks recommendation to reduce the price. I know that the chance of this happening at no additional cost is as likely as me winning the lottery :lol:

Cheers
Tony

 

[Chris Knight]

At the end of the day, I reckon most folk will want a survey done by someone they employ - I know I would - whatever documentation is made available by an owner.

 

[Anonymous]

Please do not let this turn into a political thread.

Hi Neil.

Do you notice people stop talking when you enter a room?

:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[RogerS]

I think HIPs are a good idea but has probably been diluted too much already by HMG.

Although you have to spend to produce your own HIP, you benefit from having HIPs on properties you wish to purchase available to you.

Being able to see a measure of thermal efficiency of a house before one gets too serious can only be useful. And having all the searches completed should save time and money with ones own solicitors on purchase. And what is £500 compared to an average house price of nearly £200K? Nothing.

Sorry but I don't agree with much of what has been said above.

I don't for one moment believe that any purchaser's solicitor either acting on behalf of his client or the mortgage provider will accept the 'legal' element such as searches etc. They will want to do it again themselves.

Knowing the thermal efficiency is a red-herring for most people as they buy on whether or not they like the house/locality/proximity to a good school etc. OK - they might take a quick look but then move on to more important things...important to them, that is. Anyone who IS keen on the thermal efficiency is going to be well-clued up and be able to make their own assessment, I think.

And just to get folks going (well, not really, but I pass this little gem on in good faith)...I was talking to a local builder who had heard about a new scheme being proposed by HMG that any work done on your house by a third party will require, at the end of the work, to have a certificate signed by both the house owner and the person doing the work guaranteeing the work for five years. If you try to sell your house without the certificate then you can be fined. Oh yes...it will cost you £175 to download the certificate from HMG's website. OK - probably lots of glossing over here by the person telling it to me and may well be blown up all out of proportion but who knows? Anyone else heard about this?

 

[woodbutcher]

thank you for your replies i just feel aggrieved that some one has there hand in your pocket all the time which seems to be getting worse by the day with no abatement, i hope some day not to far away that this will change for the better.



woodbutcher.

 

[lurker]

I was talking to a neighbour last evening.
He has put his house on the markets so needed a HIPs thingy done.

We was on the verge of a heart attack with helpless rage.
The house got a low score cos there is no cavity wall insulation.
The "box ticker" who was doing the survey could not be persaded that we have no cavity in the walls as the houses are 70 years old. :roll:

 

[Shadowfax]

Goes to show what crap this HIP stuff all is.
If you want a survey done, get a surveyor not some **** who has done a short course and got a ticket! This scheme seems to be a charter for badly qualified people to supply information that should be supplied by very well qualified people!
The whole thing can only get worse, especially as some lenders and solicitors will not accept searches unless they can vouch for them.

SF

 

[innesm]

I recently found out that I need a building warrant for my new kitchen install, as it's in a new room (in Scotland, a building warrant is issued by the council when you show them your work adheres to regs, and then you can do the work).

Got a quote from an 'architectural technician' - supposed to be cheaper than an architect. They want 585 quid to do the application. The council then gets 125 or more to process the application.

I think I'll just try doing the application myself, as I can by my reckoning afford a few goes at it, given the 585 quid charge from the 'professionals. Insane. Whinge moan gripe etc etc.

 

[RogerS]

I recently found out that I need a building warrant for my new kitchen install, as it's in a new room (in Scotland, a building warrant is issued by the council when you show them your work adheres to regs, and then you can do the work).

Got a quote from an 'architectural technician' - supposed to be cheaper than an architect. They want 585 quid to do the application. The council then gets 125 or more to process the application.

I think I'll just try doing the application myself, as I can by my reckoning afford a few goes at it, given the 585 quid charge from the 'professionals. Insane. Whinge moan gripe etc etc.

This sounds like the equivalent of our Building Notice. If it is then isn't a good idea? After all, would you like to buy a house where the foundations are not deep enough, for example? Or that the ceiling joists have adequate strength? Most of these regulations are based on hard engineering fact.

Unlike that soppy HIPS that is based on a whim and a prayer and a facile understanding of the housing market.

 

[innesm]

isn't it a good idea?

Building regs are definitely a good idea.

But this is nearly 600 quid to show to the council that: the kitchen drain is the right slope, the sockets are far enough away from an internal corner, there is more than 1 cubic metre of storage, there is an extractor fan and so on... nothing structural. I'm installing a kitchen and the quote for the application includes provision of a 1:1250 site plan!

 

[Pecker]

My girlfriend is an independant mortgage advisor. She and most of the housing professionals are againts hips. Two main reasons
1)it is basically aditional costs involving aditional people who all want their cut which immediatly bumps up te price.
2) The searches have to be done by members of a particular association, and their liabilty is limited, unlike if a search is done by a solicitor. Furthermore for the mortgage companies, they want the searches then checked by a solicitor - even if it is just to make sue they are there.

She beleeves very strongly as do most people in the industry that the whole process is too long winded and costly, but this is caused by too much regulation, and too little communication (especially by phone) between solicitors and each other and solicitors and estate agents.

woody