An Article by Paul Hajek Cast your minds back to 1996 BC ( Before Coalition) and a singular Labour MP got mightily angry about being gazumped on a property because of the delay in achieving an early exchange of contracts. His solution: more information...

This article was originaly posted on the Clutton Cox blog The Home Information Pack, the HIP , is sustaining incoming fire once again from the Shadow Housing spokesman Grant Shapps: This, despite only a passing reference in the Conservative Manifesto...

Now all the three main parties have released their manifestos we can look at possible changes and effects to the Housing Market in England and Wales. Here is a summary of each parties’ main proposals: Labour • 110,000 new homes over the...

Click here to read a special report: Conveyancing Held Up by Titanic Search and Lack of Main Trains ...

  The" waster effect" on estate agents was highlighted in a post on this website back in July 2009 entitled “Have HIPs inadvertently Stabilised the Housing Market in the UK” Now more data has been reported by...

There is news today that another national provider of cheap (i.e below cost) HIPs is on the brink of administration. The Institute of Domestic Energy Assessors (IDEA) has separately reported that many HIP suppliers have gone into receivership since...

Home Information Packs (HIPs) were highlighted again on 7th January with a warning issued to Estate Agents by the Housing Minister John Healy in response to a question in parliament by MP Robert Neill Under the amended HIP regulations which were...

The Housing Market does seem to have been mesmerised by the snow and ice. Orders for Home Information Packs (HIPS) have been hit by the weather. The snow has deterred people from putting their property onto the market for sale, with the result that...

The beleaguered Home Information Pack (HIP) was in the Conservative cross-hairs once again last week. Grant Schapps the Conservative Shadow Housing Minister commented at an industry conference last week, that if the Conservatives were elected at the next...

Chances are that if you have asked us to provide your HIP on the sale of your property, you might also be buying a new property as well. If you are married  or in a civil partnership then fine,but what if you are setting up home for the first time with...

What are we to make of Grant Schapps comments on HIPs at the Tory Conference last week, when he said “HIPs are history, under the next Conservative Government”. With such appalling grammar, perhaps no promotion for Mr. Schapps to Minister of...

The results of an Ipsos MORI poll, commissioned by the Association of Home Pack Providers (AHIPP) have been released this week. There are no startling data revealing high satisfaction with the whole Home Information Pack (HIP) process. Instead, the...

Hips as we know were compulsory for the sale of your 4 bedroom home from August 2007. Now all homes for sale need a HIP before you are able to market the property for sale. However, there are a few exemptions to the rules. You do not need...

You do not need a HIP in the following circumstances : 1.Where you are selling to a member of your family 2.where      ...

The Estate Agent W.A. Ellis reports today the relatively new (although some older Solicitors might disagree ) part of the Conveyancing process known as “attended exchanges" has been on the increase. These "attended exchanges" are...

HIPs became a reality two years ago on the 1st August 2007. From that date, initially for 4 bedroom properties only, homeowners, were required to order a HIP become marketing their property for sale in England and Wales. Since 6th April 2009 , you must...

The Conservative crusade against Home Information Packs (HIPs) shows no signs of abating. It has clearly identified HIPs as a soft target for winning votes in the next General Election in 2010. However, the reality of office often dilutes the rhetoric. It...

There was an interesting discussion on BBC 5Live business this morning regarding the state of the housing market Prior to the introduction of Home Information Packs (HIPs ), a proportion of the properties on the market for sale were by Sellers who...

As we wade through the latest round of HIP bashing and HIP defending, it does occur to me that both the HIPs and Rome were not built or established in a day. Spicerhaart, a large chain of Estate Agents have published evidence that there is widespread abuse...

If the predictions of economists are to be believed there should be an increase in orders for HIPs, house sales and Conveyancing instructions over the next few months A Poll carried out by Reuters amongst analysts at banks, investment firms and...

The day will soon arrive, when someone will order a Local Search with their Personal Search Provider knowing that, because of the backlog of appointments at the Local Authority, there is no chance of the Search being returned within the concessionary 28 day...

Well, a good pointer was included in the latest edition of Property in Practice magazine from the Law Society Property Section   It included extracts of an interview with Vince Cable MP the Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman  Vince Cable is...

Two conflicting views appeared today in the Estate Agency News www.estateagencynews.co.uk highlighting the polarised opinions for and against HIPs. On page 2, Paul Smith of Chief Executive of Spicerhaart renews his call for their abolition...

It seems that one of the inevitable consequences of the new HIP regulations from 6th April this year has caused a backlash from the Private Search Companies. Since 6th April the search companies have been unable to insure against missing data when...

This would appear to be what the well known anti HIP campaign SPLINTA did yesterday according to a news release on the Estate Agent Today website. It possibly never occurred to the SPLINTA founder Nick Salmon that pro HIP enthusiasts would seek to...