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8/06 |
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Changing the way we sell our homes
The government has confirmed that Home Information Packs will be compulsory for anyone moving home after June 2007 but the rows over their usefulness continue.
Each pack will contain the kind of material now commissioned by a buyer after his offer is accepted on a new home - search information, a Home Condition Report survey and a log of formal title deeds, building consents and planning permissions.
This will cost about £600 plus VAT for a typical property but there are still major concerns about:
- Whether there will be enough inspectors trained and certified in time to prepare the mandatory Home Condition Reports; up to 7,400 are required and so far fewer than 600 have qualified. But ‘fast track’ courses are being introduced in 2006 and the government says the June 2007 deadline gives enough time for the target to be met.
- How estate agents can ensure they commission high quality, well-informed HIPs on behalf of their customers as soon as possible after winning an instruction. A property cannot be marketed until a completed pack is in place so agents need services that combine rapid online access with reliable local expertise, of the kind offered by MovingAhead. Some other agents will risk depending on mass-volume pack providers with little or no track record of this kind of work.
- Whether mortgage lenders will require a new Home Condition Report if a property has been on sale for some months. The Council of Mortgage Lenders is talking with its members about introducing a guideline on the shelf-life of these reports.
Consumer groups continue to welcome the idea of the packs, claiming they will end the current trend where many sales fall through at a late stage as buyers withdraw because of the information they discover in the survey. But estate agents say that having to foot the bill for a pack before marketing even begins may deter ‘casual’ sellers, who in the past have been able to put their homes on sale at no cost to themselves in order to get free valuations and see if buyers were interested.
A series of pilot schemes will begin throughout 2006 across the UK – the largest is in Southampton – in what the government calls “an ideal opportunity for the industry to see how popular packs are with the public and a final chance to iron out the problems”.
But do not expect the rows to be at an end.
The National Association of Estate Agents and many individual agencies operating at different sectors of the market have queued up to criticise the June 2007 deadline as “astonishing” because it will come just as the annual house selling season is at its busiest. On the other side, the government and some High Street estate agents who have already trained staff to prepare the packs say they are perfectly happy with the date, and will in any case introduce ‘voluntary’ HIPs well before that time.
The battle of words continues.
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