As you no doubt know, the government have legislated that an owner of a home about to be placed on the market now has to have a Home Information Pack prepared on it.

From April 6th 2009 the scheme was extensively altered by the Labour Party in that the bulk of the Pack has to be back with the seller or the Agent BEFORE ANY MARKETING CAN BEGIN. You can ask your solicitor to prepare your Pack but, as time is of the essence if you wish us to start marketing without delay, you may consider using a professional HIP Provider.  They will take your pre-payment by card over the 'phone and hopefully the HIP will be ready in four days and then the government will then 'allow' us to begin marketing for you.  The HIP Provider will particularly help you to complete the integral PROPERTY INFORMATION QUESTIONNAIRE.  

We will be pleased to introduce you to one of the dedicated HIP provider companies we have selected, who will handle the preparation and deliver the final document to us, to be made available to your purchaser. We shall take no commission or 'mark-up' whatsoever (PLEASE CHECK OTHER AGENTS YOU MAY BE CONSIDERING CAN PROMISE THE SAME).

The cost will depend on whether your property is Freehold or Leasehold, whether its Title is registered with H M Land Registry or not, and how much your Local Authority chose to charge for Searches - the HIP provider will quote you a fixed fee.  The payment can be made by you either 'upfront', or delayed perhaps until the home is sold.  

We will have no 'hold' over your HIP - it will be your property and thus you will be able to offer it to another agent should you decide (we hope not of course!) to change firms or go 'multi-agent'.  IT IS OF THE UTMOST IMPORTANCE THAT YOU CHECK THE 'OWNERSHIP' OF YOUR HIP IF YOU USE ANOTHER AGENT OR THEIR HIP PROVIDER. Many HIP deals will tie you to that agent and not allow you to leave them, or even instruct extra agents either. 

Your HIP will include an Index, the Property Information Questionnaire, a sale statement, Local Authority Searches, details of the Title of your home from the Land Registry (together with a site plan), and Lease details if you are Leasehold.  The most significant part of the HIP will be an Energy Performance Certificate on your home. The government  require you to permit a Domestic Energy Assessor to inspect the interior of your home and rate its thermal efficiency.  If you cannot be available when the Assessor calls, we will be delighted to accompany the Inspector.  PLEASE ENSURE OTHER AGENTS YOU MAY BE CONSIDERING WILL DO THE SAME.  In many cases these newly trained Assessors will be totally unknown to we agents.  

At Trevor Kent & Co we will do everything we can to assist with every aspect, and will be happy to discuss HIPs with you at any time. You may be interested to know that The Shadow Housing Minister Grant Shapps is on record as having pledged to Trevor Kent (the former President of the National Association of Estate Agents) personally that, when elected, The Conservative Party will repeal HIPs legislation.

Trevor Kent & Co