April HIP changes – how they affect you

More changes to the HIP legislation will come into effect on April 6th. The changes have important implications for the marketing of residential properties.

What are the changes?

The following will apply to properties marketed on or after 6th April 2009:

• The temporary first day marketing exemption will be removed, which means that a HIP must be available on the first day a property is marketed.  Prior to marketing, the Pack must contain;

- Index
- EPC
- Sale Statement
- Evidence of Title
- Property Information Questionnaire

• A Property Information Questionnaire (PIQ) - completed by the seller - must be included in the HIP (view a sample PIQ)

• The end of the use of insurance in personal searches to cover missing data.

If you do not have these documents in place on behalf of the home seller at the time the property is marketed, you will be liable for a fine of up to £200 per day.

How will your current HIP processes be affected?

The biggest change will be ensuring vendors complete their PIQ. We will provide our agents with the following options to assist vendors in completing this document:

Online link to PIQ – emailed to vendor at the time the HIP is ordered. The vendor completes this online.

Hard copy of PIQ – for you/your DEA to give to vendors at the point of listing. Once completed, these will need to be collected from the vendor, scanned and uploaded into the HIP via your movewithus Members Area. A copy of the PIQ will be available through the movewithus Members Area or can be emailed to you if you require.

*Once the relevant documents are complete, you will receive an email informing you that the property can be marketed.*

Please note: – from the 6th April, search companies will no longer be able to insure against missing information for the purpose of inclusion in a HIP. It is therefore expected that the cost of obtaining a search will increase. We will update you as to how this will effect our HIP price once we have more information.

We are here to help you through this change. Should you require any assistance, please speak to your Regional Business Manager or contact the movewithus HIP team:

email: hip@movewithus.co.uk

tel: 01480 409582