HIPs

[Sue Durnim]

Hooray!....HIPS has gone, at least been suspended for the time being.

 

This was an exercise in ?money for old rope?, there was nothing of value in HIPs, that a local search, surveyor, buyer, seller or solicitor did not already know.

 

The only down side is that there will be people losing there jobs who were employed in creating these packs.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/10130254.stm

[safeway56]

You're quite right...I never felt so ripped off in my life..The man was in the house for around 30 minutes...He took a look at the window frames...C/H boiler...light bulbs and poked his head through the loft hatch Cost:?500 !! I was told that anybody could have qualified to be one of these inspectors...All you needed was to attend a 4 hour course and then you're *qualified* In the end we didn't sell the house but we still had to pay it. The scheme was pure tokenism pandering to the *Green* lobby.

[Egbert]

Couldn't agree more. And let's not forget that it is this new, reviled by many, government that is getting rid of HIPS!

[Sue Durnim]

I think we can call this a result and long overdue at that!

Nothing I hate more than being ripped of in the name of estate agents and governments.

 

What this government needs to do now is get rid of stamp duty for all buyers, not just first time buyers who would like to buy houses to the value of ?250,000, this would surely kick start the housing market?

[Dizzy]

Never had a HIPS but about time they got rid of it. A friend of mine paid out over ?400 for hers but her home didn't sell due to the slump. Prices were going lower and lower and after over 9 months she was going to stay put and wait a while..... but was told if she took it off sale then put it back on the market again she'd have to pay for anither HIPS

 

As for Stamp Duty... couldn't agree more SD it should indeed be scrapped for ALL buyers and not just for the 1st timers. How many of those can afford ?250k houses anyway It has been one of the main factors that has stopped us moving up in the housing world a little.

 

If they scrap it for all I'll move.... .... away from Warrington maybe

[inky pete]

The scheme was pure tokenism pandering to the *Green* lobby.

 

You will still need to pay for an EPC (energy performance certificate) before you can put your house on the market.

 

They're one of our wonderful EU laws so the UK government scrapping HIPS does not remove them.

[Dizzy]

I thought that's the sort of thing a HIPS showed ie wether your home was efficient by way of having double glazing, energy saving lightbulbs and loft insulation etc Like I said I've never moved so have no idea

[Peter T]

If they scrap it for all I'll move.... .... away from Warrington maybe

 

You don't live in Warrington.

[Dizzy]

Seems you have caught Gary's rolly-eye syndrome Peter

 

I think I KNOW where I live but thanks all the same I definately live in Warrington.

 

..... unless of course I have move and no-one has bothered telling me.... the view still looks the same out of my window though and my family members keep coming back here every night too

[Peter T]

When did St. Heath become Warrington?

[Peter T]

When did St. Heath become Warrington?

My postcard code and address might say Warrington, but I live in Latchford. (someone has to).

[Dizzy]

And now you are answering yourself Peter... I think I'll just leave you too it I live in Warrington

[DS]

When did St. Heath become Warrington?

 

Actually, Peter, in 1974 at the time of Local Government Re-organisation. Prior to that it was part of Runcorn Rural District, along with all the other South Warrington suburbs with the exception of Lymm which, at that time, was an urban district in its own right.

[Peter T]

There you go Dizzy, you live in a suburb and that's St. Heath.

IF you want to be pedantic, you live in England, NOT Warrington.

Thank you DS for the clarification.

[Dizzy]

thanks DS A suburb of Warrington it is then Peter ps I wasn't being pedantic at all and you started it

 

Going back further in time though..

 

Half of Stockton Heath used to come under the Township of 'Appleton' and the Parish of 'Great Budworth'. The township boundary was roughly the stream on Mill Lane playing field. The area on the other side of the canal (if you imagine the boundary carrying along across the canal upto Loushers Lane School land, across Wilderspool, down to half way along Landseer Ave and back across the canal again was also in the same township.

 

The other half of Stockton Heath as we know it today from the stream on Mill Lane playing field going the other way (ie towards Ackers Pit direction) came under the Township of 'Grappenhall' and Parish of 'Grappenhall'.

 

Anyway back to HIPS

[observer]

Frankly HIPs were a stupid and needless idea - so we can chalk one usefull change up to the new regime.

[asperity]

We agree on that Obs.

[observer]

Best chalk that one up too!

[Sue Durnim]

I think that we all agree? that no one supports the HIPs and no one is in favour of it?

[Bazj]

Good job my mate had his HIPS done before the new government; he'd have been house bound otherwise

[inky pete]

The HIP could have been a good idea, but the mortgage lenders were against it because - in it's originally proposed form - it would have cost them lots of money.

 

The original plan was for the vendor of a house to have done all the local searches, structural survey, land registry stuff before putting it on the market. This would have meant all this necessary stuff being done just the once for each property sale.

 

Unfortunately, the mortgage lenders saw this as a loss of trade - and therefore money - to their in house or wholly owned subsiduary surveyors and conveyancers. They would have only got to charge for each property once whereas currently each buyer who wants to put in an offer has their own survey done (I know of a house which was surveyed 6 seperate times by 4 different surveyors, on behalf of 4 different lenders, and they all said the same things!), and a buyer also has to pay the conveyancer for work already done on any sales which are gazumped.

 

The lenders simply refused to accept the structural survey and local searches in the HIP and said that they would continue to insist upon having their own done, the government didn't have the balls to force their hand and from that point on HIP was a dead duck.

[Dizzy]

Like I said I've never moved and the only house that I've ever put an offer in on or bought was the one I'm sitting in today.

 

From what you say Inky HIPS should have worked and did make sense at the time then... they just got intentionally confused along the way.

 

I remember having to fork out over ?500 for a full private structural survey (that was 18 years ago) at the instruction of my lender as the 'youngster' who had had a look around said that a lot of the internal door frames appeared crooked (subsidence?) and the cavity wall ties round here were prone to perishing because of chemicals in the local air from factories. ?? There was also a 2ft by 1ft area of external brickwork that needed pointing ?

 

Nothing wrong with the door frames it was just that the doors themselves were old and squiffy so when they were shut they didn't align quite right.... and after drilling and looking the cavity wall ties were all solid too ...

 

If we had backed out then the next... and the next... and probably the next... person to put an offer in would have gone throught the same needless costs

[Peter T]

Dizzy,

would you care to edit your post? You have your i's and u's mixed up.

[asperity]

I'm too much of a gentleman to point it out

[observer]

"Buyer Beware" - it remains in the interest of the buyer to ensure value for money on such a high priced investment - I'm not sure any carefull person would accept a HIP as some kind of assurance.