HIPS are now a thing of the past. I am not sure what will happen to this page now - does the topic have a future?
Last updated on August 11th 2010.
News on conveyancing topics
Today's Conveyancer is a new free online newspaper for conveyancers with relevant news,
resources and jobs. It is run by Chris Harris, previously Legal Serivices Director of Legal Marketing Services which is the largest panel
manager of conveyancing services in the UK.
Organisations and general information relating to HIPS
The Law Society provides an ongoing information resource
on HIPs and related topics.
There is a marketing toolkit and HIPs packages available to be downloaded from the site.
ExploreHomeInformationPacks is a non profit-making
site designed to provide overall information on HIPs for the ordinary person.
There are sections on Benefits of HIPs, How Useful is a HIP, What Will HIPs Change about the House Buying Process?,
Buying a Home, Important Things to Look Out For, Questions a Homebuyer Should ask, & Receiving a HIP.
There are over 40 articles on these and related HIPs topics written by property experts.
There is a section on
Features of HIPs
with more technical (legal) information.
HIPAG is an Independent HIP Group of solicitors,
estate agents and future home inspectors.
Several hundred firms of solicitors are already signed up as members.
The group is led by Rob Hailstone, an acknowledged authority in the buying and selling process and an
expert on legislation surrounding HIPs. HIPAG's partner is OyezStraker and Stat Plus, part of the OyezStaker group -
the country's leading independent supplier of office products and services to the legal and professional
customer. The group provides HIPAG with the infrastructure, finance, digital printing and distribution services
to enable it to produce HIPs quickly and efficiently.
HIPAG has developed a unique system of working with Estate Agents, Solicitors and Home Inspectors,
which will ensure that not only will a HIP be produced quickly but that the HIP will be comprehensive and
will deliver the government's objectives of speed, transparency and certainty.
Clutton Cox host a blog on their web site written by
solicitor Paul Hajek covering topics of property, conveyancing, HIPs and related areas of interest.
hipCENTRAL provides a central registry for all
activities, services and information relating to HIPs. There are National HIP Providers,
Providers of Home Condition Reports, HIP Providers based in particular areas,
Training Providers, Domestic Energy Assessors and various House and Home related resources.
A modest fee is charged for the listings on this site.
Hipcentral.co.uk is a trading name of New Build Inspections Ltd.
Per Pro is a new organisation for estate agents surveyors and lawyers
to promote and protect the interests of small independent property professionals in an environment increasingly
geared to swell the profitability and success of large firms, threatening the very survival of small ones.
The Chairman, Michael Garson is a solicitor and estate agent and currently training as Home Inspector.
He served four years as the Law Society Council Member for Residential Conveyancing and is current Chair of
the Property Section and member of the NAEA. Membership is open to independent estate agents, surveyors, brokers,
solicitors and conveyancers.
The Association of Home Information Pack Providers (AHIPP)
aims to ensure that there will be proper representation for those companies who will be at the
heart of a new industry. Full membership is open to those involved in the production and collation of
Home Information Packs (HIPS), with associate membership available to other interested organisations.
There are links to just about all the major players, so far, with descriptions of the products on offer,
and an onging round-up of news relating to HIPs.
The National Land & Property Information Service
(NLIS) is the leader in the provision of electronic local authority property searches across England
and Wales via a number of channels.
NLIS is managed by Land Data, a community interest company committed to making property search
information increasingly accessible to the general public.
To date NLIS has processed over 15 million searches for UK homebuyers and continues to help to
streamline the homebuying process.
The current NLIS Channels are:
Commercial organisations providing HIPs, news on HIPs and/or free newsletters
ahip4u.co.uk comes from solicitors
Matthew & Matthew of Bournemouth. Their prices for
providing a HIP start at £232.
The first company supplying Energy Performance Certificates that I have come across
EPC Assessments Ltd are providers of Energy Performance
Certificates (EPCs) for Home Information Packs. They apparently have a team of fully qualified
Assessors throughout the UK, all of whom have had full and advanced background checks by the Criminal Bureau Agency.
They are looking to work with Solicitors, Estate Agents, HIP and Mortgage Providers.
Firsthips Limited has been established by leading software
developers and property lawyers to provide a unique and economical Home Information Pack internet solution for
independent estate agents and property lawyers.
The company behind the software development Net Formation Ltd. t/a
forfront.net was founded in 1998 and
provides original and dynamic marketing, web applications and e-commerce solutions for businesses and industry.
Forfront.net designed and maintains the internet site and in-house software system for the Council for
Licensed Conveyancers. Firsthips offers "an online and easy to use internet portal for storing, viewing and
downloading all HIP documentation; instant access to a nationwide team of Home Inspectors to undertake the
Home Condition Report speedily; comprehensive online search facilities; online conveyancing facility enabling
conveyancers to send communications and documents to each other instantly on a secure server".. and other things.
Fridays Property Lawyers provide a great deal of
information on their site about conveyancing in general and HIPs in particular.
According to a recent Which? report, Fridays now offer the cheapest HIPs in the UK - starting from £139.
There is a blog on the site as well, provided by co-founder of Fridays, Simon Seaton
here.
HIP-Consultant.co.uk is an independent North East
based Home Information Pack (HIP) provider, who compile the HIP pack and carry out domestic energy assessments
for the Energy Performance Certificates (EPC). There is also useful information on the site
for consumers and professionals.
Hipsco is a dedicated Home Information Packs Provider,
working closely with Estate Agents, Solicitors and Chartered Surveyors.
They have an online system that will enable Hipsco members to order a complete Home Information Pack
at the touch of a button for delivery in 5-10 days (electronic versions sooner).
It is planned that the Hipsco system will be able
to order any subsequent reports needed such as Damp and Timber, Wall ties ETC that may become necessary
following the completion of the Home Condition Report (HCR).
Hipsco are fully committed to using local solicitors where possible and will not rely just on the larger
conveyancing firms. There is lots of information on the site and you can register for regular updates by email.
Hips Direct provides cost effective Home Information Packs
throughout the UK. The service is managed by Howard Garde, a Chartered Building Surveyor with 20 years
experience in the residential surveying field.
Howard is a regular speaker at Home Inspector training events and a regular contributor to the
Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors assessment centre newsletter.
Mundys, Licensed Conveyancers, provide information on HIPs
(and conveyancing generally) on
their site. They also offer a free monthly newsletter for anyone who is buying or selling property
and this includes information on the progress of HIPs - see
Mundy Mail to register for this. The latest newsletter
contains an excellent summary of the present position.
Simply Hip is a major HIP provider in England & Wales.
They work closely with estate agents to develop the best possible product.
They are now providing an "Exchange-Ready Pack" to speed up the processes involved in selling a house once an offer
has been accepted. The pack contains a contract for sale prepared by a lawyer,
a Seller Property Information Form, a Fixtures & Fittings Form,
additional documents referred to in the Register, copies of planning permissions and building regulations
consents and guarantees supplied by the seller and a
Lawyers' certificate confirming the pack is exchange-ready.
The Partnership is a major player
in the provision of Home Information Pack and Energy Performance Certificate services for the
prestige property market. Their background is legal and their material is used by CLT in their HIP seminars.
There is lots of information on the site about the legislation involved and the main players
involved. They are working with some of the most prestigious estate agents in England, which
means that most of their clients are already working with solicitors. They do
not charge referral fees for solicitors.
