HIPs for all homes

Home Information Packs (HIPs) are in full swing, and are now required for the sale of every home...

Since 1st August this year, owners of properties with four bedrooms or more have been legally required to have Home Information Packs (HIPS) produced when they put their homes on the market. From 10th September, this was extended to three-bedroom homes and the complete roll-out to all residential properties occurred on December 14th.

In addition, the temporary provisions on first-day marketing for all properties have been extended from 1st January to 1st June 2008.

Housing minister Yvette Cooper says: “First-time buyers of one and two-bedroom homes will be the main beneficiaries as they’ll now get important information about their new home for free. Information such as searches, for which they would
previously have had to pay, will now be included in the HIP - paid for by the seller. This reduces the costs of the first step onto the property ladder.”

Mark Jarvis, Severn Trent Searches general manager, says: “We support the Government’s decision to press on with a full rollout of HIPS. Our experience shows us that the market is bedding in quite nicely, and extending HIPS to make them compulsory for all homes will definitely benefit consumers, particularly first-time buyers.”

Extending our services

With the introduction of the packs, we extended our offering at Severn Trent Searches to provide all our usual searches, as well as full HIPS including Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs). With our extensive experience and a reputation for providing reliable searches, we’ve found there’s been huge demand for these new services. Since launching the new services in August, the number of orders has shot up dramatically. In fact, between August and September our order numbers increased three-fold.

In August and September, around half of our HIPS were ordered with a personal local authority search, with the rest having an official LLC1 and Con 29. This shows that our customers like to have a choice over where they source their local authority reports from - a choice not offered by the majority of other HIP providers.

Speedy turnaround times

We’ve been working hard to provide fast turnaround times, and as a result we’ve had some brilliant feedback from conveyancers. Diane Nary from Kenneth Curtis and Co says: “So far I’m very pleased with the service for HIPs, the staff who look after them are very quick to come back to us if there are any problems, and the end product looks great.”

Joanne Parsons from Hall Pratt & Pritchard says: “We’ve had no problems at all with the Severn Trent Searches HIP service, and we’ve been impressed with their efficiency when it comes to contacting clients and keeping us informed.”

Online ordering

To make requesting HIPs even easier, we introduced a new online ordering site in August. This allows conveyancers to order the packs, track their progress and download them on completion. To access the site you’ll need a user name and password. You might have been sent this in the post already, however, if you’d like to request one, simply email
hip@severntrent.co.uk. Once you have a password, go to http://hip.severntrentsearches.com to order or track HIPs.

Just click on the conveyancer zone button, and enter your login details. Then just follow the instructions on screen. It’s easy! For more information, email hip@severntrent.co.uk

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