Consumers are warned that  Estate Agents may use the Home Information Packs (HIPs) legislation to tie-in hundreds of thousands of property sellers thereby creating a situation comparable to the sole agency agreement critisized by many industry professionals.

 
The Problem

Following the  government’s  revision of its  home-selling reforms, all sellers must obtain a HIP before marketing their property.  Estate Agents are expected to arrange  the provision of HIPs and pass on the cost to the seller. However, to avoid the inevitable conflict of interest that will arise if a seller feels they need to change their selling agent, consumers are advised to arrange the HIP independantly of the agent . We can arrange for a fully compliant HIP that can be available to all interested parties at a very competitive cost.

According to statistics all  residential properties on the market will need a HIP . This equates to hundreds of thousands of sellers of homes currently for sale who may find themselves tied to a single estate agent.

My  advice to sellers is simple: “Avoid the ‘HIP Trap’ by sourcing your HIP independently of an Estate Agent and  then decide who will be appointed sell your propertyhaving first checked out their agency agreement .” 

 The major benefit for the consumer of acquiring their HIP independent of an Estate Agent is that they remain free to choose how to sell their property.

The  Trap
Sellers that obtain  a HIP through their estate agent are likely to be tied to that agent, even if they deliver poor service, as the HIP may not be easily transferred to other agencies. There are a variety of reasons why the agent down the street will not want to accept a HIP produced by a competitor. For example the HIP may be incomplete,  noncompliant with the current legislation or  have a competitor’s branding on it. In any of these examples the next agent of choice is likely to  insist that the seller purchases a further  HIP at additional cost. In addition , unless a fixed price was agreed in writing with the original agent, the seller may be charged excessively for the HIP even if  they failed to sell the property, as they attempt to recover abortive costs.

A Seller will  often tryseveral  estate agents before they manage to sell and therefore it is imperative that sellers purchase their HIPs independently of their selling agent . Most  HIPs are currently costing somewhere between £300  and £600 and therefore  sellers really need to ensure that they only need to buy it once (We can currently offer a HIP for£300.00 inc  on a freehold property). Attempting to sell a property without a HIP is not advisable as sellers can  potentially be fined £200 for every day the property is marketed.

The HIPs provided by us are fully compliant with the latest government legislation and  are compiled by experienced lawyers together with property professionals who are in the best position to know and appreciate the issues raised in the property market. HIPs produced with this level of attention to detail are simply the best option available to  sellers.

Obtaining a HIP independant of an Agency sale  agreement allows to the seller to remain in control of the  property sale. Sellers can then choose how they wish to sell their property,either by a traditional  estate agent, an online agent or privately. Despite the increasing  popularity of online agents and private sales, the majority of sellers will choose  to instruct one or more traditional agents to sell the property, but with their HIP acquired independently they will be able to change agents as appropriate.

I expect  over time the sellers of UK property will purchase their HIPs independently. Private sales and online estate agents will  almost certainly increase in popularity thanks to the  power of the Internet. Only time will tell if these trends continue but one thing is for sure, thanks to HIPs, home selling in England and Wales will never been the same again.This will be the case whether or not they are scrapped following the elections on May 6th