Home Information Packs - (HIP's) and Running an Action Group on the Web (HIPAG)
by Rob Hailstone
The Housing Act was passed on the 18th November 2004 and compulsory Home Information Packs are due to be with us early in 2007. There is an enormous amount of work and research being carried out into most areas of the pack. The ODPM (Office of the Deputy Prime Minister) and some of the relevant professions are in the process of carrying out that work. For example, the search and lending industries, the surveying profession and estate agents are all making worthwhile contributions. The one notable exception however, is the legal profession!
Many people see conveyancing (that will still have to be carried out professionally) as the least important part of the whole HIP process. That is a misconception; conveyancing will be just as important as it is now, perhaps more so. I will explain my reasoning for that statement, metaphorically. The Government has decided to build a train, the HIP, with the help of search providers, home inspectors and so on. The public will be the passengers and the estate agents are effectively going to be the ticket sellers. Who, therefore is going to drive that train, who is going to repair it if it has been built incorrectly or if it breaks down, who will get the blame for its lack of quality and speed? The conveyancing solicitor of course!
Why would anyone want to drive a train that they have not had a hand in building and which (because it has been badly designed and constructed) will leave them open to claims of apathy or even negligence? Whether solicitors like it or not, they will have to take part in this compulsory system for the remainder of their working life.
The Quality of HIP's is Crucial
I have been supplied with a specimen Home Information Pack prepared by a potential pack supplier. It took me less than fifteen minutes to establish that it was defective in the following ways at the very least:
Official Copies
Local Search
Water and Drainage Search
Environmental Search
Property Information Form
This specimen pack relates to a simple freehold property; anything more complicated, such as unregistered freehold or leasehold for example would have been even worse. If I had received that pack, having been instructed to act for a potential buyer and a lender I would be raising my usual additional enquiries and probably a dozen others. In addition I would be requesting copies of missing documents, which could take days or even weeks to obtain. The pack would have been rendered effectively useless as far as transparency and speed are concerned.
This is what we have to look forward to: packs produced quickly and without much thought by volume pack providers who seem to think that anyone with little or no training can obtain, collate and check all of the components.
Most of the volume pack providers will probably be estate agency led. Their main objective will be to get the property on the market as quickly as possible and make money, without breaking the law and being fined. They will not worry, at that stage, if the pack lacks finer detail.
The ODPM has recently published the results of a survey by NOP World. Housing Minister Keith Hill has been quoted as saying that “The Government is committed to making the home buying and selling process quicker and more transparent through the introduction of Home Information Packs and we will continue to work with key stakeholders to ensure they meet the public's expectations when they are introduced in 2007”. If the specimen pack in my possession is anything to go by neither speed nor transparency will be achieved. In fact it will be the complete opposite.
In the survey it is suggested that a government ‘kite-mark' would be a good indicator that all was well regulated. The government should consider this carefully. Without some kind of quality control built in, the pack production system in England and Wales will become a disaster.
HIPAG and the role of the internet
What can solicitors do to improve matters? Probably very little on an individual basis, but collectively quite a lot. First, we can make our concerns widely known to the people who matter and then we can be ready to be a provider of good quality HIP's ourselves, when the scheme begins.
I set up HIPAG, the Home Information Pack Action Group twelve months ago. Some minor coverage in the Law Society Gazette led to a call from Nick Jervis, of Samson Consulting, a specialist legal website design and marketing company. 'He explained the importance and benefits of having a website for the campaign and I was soon convinced that this was the way to go. Nick designed the website (see www.hipag.co.uk) and more recently helped structure and implement an internet marketing campaign to increase the visibility of HIPAG on the internet. If you search, via any search engine, for the term Home Information Pack you will find it hard to avoid us.
Prior to setting up HIPAG I was not particularly IT literate. However, with Nick's help and advice I am now confident about using my computer, laptop and the internet. In fact I am certain that I could not have built HIPAG to the level it is now (around 100 members) as quickly as I have, by using the old traditional methods of telephone and post. I can send 100 e-mails to all member firms at the click of a button, simple stuff I know, but it could not have been done a few years ago! I can also store huge amounts of data and information without taking up large amounts of office or storage space. I am certain that I can develop HIPAG over the next few years by taking advantage of the IT solutions that are available to everyone in the 21st century.
Our aim? We want HIPAG to become a SHIP, a Specialist Home Information Pack supplier. It will be able to compete competitively with any other pack supplier in the market place including Rightmove, Countrywide Plc etc. HIPAG member firms will be able to obtain the quickest most comprehensive HIP in the market place.
Rob Hailstone is a residential property conveyancer with 25 years experience.
He set up HIPAG, www.hipag.co.uk,
12 months ago for two main reasons: to
ensure that the public would be able to obtain a high quality Home Information
Pack and to help the High Street solicitor survive the changes that are imminent.
Email rob@hipag.co.uk
More on the Web Site
Nick Jervis adds...Our first briefing with HIPAG was an important one. We needed to establish how the campaign strategy could be developed via the website, essentially by gathering firms in support of the campaign aims. The site would be accessed by partners and decision makers in the firms who themselves would have varying levels of internet abilities so the site needed to be quick to load and easy to navigate. Viewers should then be able to express their interest in joining the group by completing an online form. They would then be given further information by email, with interested parties being added to the HIPAG database for follow up.
As with any start up business, budget was a major concern. It was agreed we would build the necessary shell with some basic (but important) content initially, and then develop the site further over the course of time.
Our graphic designers were asked to turn the project brief into a visual realisation to be presented as preliminary mockups to HIPAG. We then went through the design approval stage of amending and approving to achieve an approved visual design. Once we reached this stage, the web designers and developers took over the project and using industry standard software tools such as Dreamweaver, they took the visual mockups and created the hard coded website pages.
Nick Jervis is a Solicitor (non practising) and runs Samson Consulting
www.samsonconsulting.co.uk.
Email njervis@samsonconsulting.co.uk.
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