You Now NEED A HIP To Market A Property

There was a time when vendors only needed to provide proof that they had ordered a HIP before putting a property on the market. Essentially, you could market, find a buyer, and even exchange contracts before receiving a HIP. Apparently it takes 28 days for the pack to arrive in your hands (but I wouldn’t hold my breath), so with in that 28 days you could have done all of the above.

However, unfortunately, the rules change from the start of next year (2008). The new rules stipulate that a vendor actually needs to obtain the pack before marketing the property. This is called the end of the ‘first day of marketing’ principle. The general belief is that for HIPs to do their job properly, all the information must be made available to potential buyers from the offset.

Looks like the government are trying to run a tight shop; closing up all loopholes.

Out of curiosity, has anyone used/purchased one yet? If so, were they useful?

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Talk / 11 Comments left so far

Lorraine Imhoff wrote this on 2007-12-29 14:17:19 I needed a HIP when selling my home last month. Initially I expecteed to pay arond £400 for one then my agent told me about Fridays Property Lawyers (see www.fridaysmove.com) who offer a genuinly free HIP. To qualify you must instruct them for your conveyancing but they have not inflated their prices to cover the HIP. Better still if I had not found a buyer I wouldn't have had to pay them a penny. I guess they must be doing this as a loss leader but you deinitely win if you need a HIP. Also really nice and communicative company. 1

The Landlord wrote this on 2007-12-29 14:22:43 Hey Lorraine,

Many thanks for the tip. However, it seems kinda odd that a conveyancing company would cover the costs. Are their conveyancing services competatively priced?

It would be interesting to see if fridays property lawyers work out cheaper than using an alternative conveyancing firm, and using an external HIP company.

Kind regards 2

graham1st wrote this on 2008-07-28 09:27:52 Home Information Pack is the one of the important document. if you have hip pack and if you don't have virtual tool, floor plan etc. 3

Martin wrote this on 2008-11-28 23:49:58 I saw your post Lorraine and thought as it was a year old the deal at Fridays Property Lawyers would be over (if it was legitimate). Am trying to sell my house so contacted Fridays on the off chance and they are still offering this deal. You can choose a stand alone HIP if you prefer which was £20 less than the next cheapest I could find. I went for that and apparently they wil refund it if i go for the conveyancing if i find a buyer. (fat chance of that happening at the moment) 4

Malcom Jones wrote this on 2008-11-30 16:01:26 Hi Lorraine
Just checked this and Fridays Property Lawyers are running the Free HIP deal till 14th December. The lawyer told me that it may be available next year depending on a number of decisions the government are yet to make. Was gonna put my flat on the market in Jan, but to save a few hundred quid am gonna do it now.
Thanks for the steer 5

kevin wrote this on 2009-10-02 08:35:34 Just to clarify, I am a HIP provider there seems to be a lot of confusion being published by people who don't really know what they are talking about when it comes to HIP's and marketing your property. Or you have the solicitors who try and scare the clients into thinking that using them is the cheapest and best way to go. You don't have to have your HIP complete to market your property. You have to have certain document in place your searches ordered you are then ready to go and market your property. I can turn this around in less than 12 hrs so as you can see these people don't know what they are speaking about. Email me if you need more info kbconsulatncy@live.co.uk. I cover the whole of the UK 6

Charles wrote this on 2009-10-07 14:17:53 hi Lorraine

Thanks for the TIP. I just ordered my hip from Fridays. No free HIP offer anymore but the were by far the most cost effective. I paid £165 for my HIP i live in london most of the other people I tried quoted a low price and then changed their minds when they found out I lived in a more expensive council area. My agent recieved all he needed to market the property within three days and the energy assesor chappy visited my home in the evening glad i stumbled upon this thread. 7

Jayne wrote this on 2009-11-12 20:47:43 Hi. I have just ordered my HIP from Fridays and they will refund the cost of it if I use them for conveyancing. They seemed very helpful but has anyone used their lawyers for the legal stuff? Are they any good? I would like to hear from anyone who has used them, both good and bad feedback please. Thanks 8

Harry wrote this on 2009-12-17 09:31:37 Hi Jayne

I completed on the sale of my property through Fridays yesterday. They were not the cheapest but they came highly recommended by my brother-in-law. I would use them again. The refund on the HIP proved to be a good saving ( although you have to sell your property to get the benefit of this ) 9

Jayne wrote this on 2009-12-18 10:10:44 Thanks for that Harry. Haven't sold yet, rubbish time of year I guess, but glad Fridays did a good job :-) 10

billy bob wrote this on 2010-04-29 12:47:30 Hi

we did use fridays to conveyance our sale and provide hip.

our experience is that the hip was very good (sub-contracted to a provider) but the conveyancing communication was appalling. They cost us money because of this and they despite repeated requests would not send an invoice for what had been charged.

In the end they charged approx £250 for an aborted sale and basically doubled what they had quoted.

Be very careful with this lot. 11

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