Insurance News Archive
Online property sales 'could avoid Hips'
Property sellers and investors may want to consider making their UK property transactions online as these sales could be exempt from home information packs (Hips), it has been suggested.
A loophole in the regulations was uncovered by New Model Advisor magazine which according to its parent website Citywire has got hold of documents confirming that privately negotiated sales do not qualify for Hips.
The reason for this exemption is said to be because the transaction will not incur a charge from an estate agent, the magazine reported.
Hips are aiming to simplify the house-buying process but have had a rocky start after their implementation was postponed earlier this year till August 1st.
There had been worries that there were not enough inspectors to carry out the energy reports on homes and the introduction of the scheme in August will still be staggered to account for this, with four-bedroom homes being the first to be affected before it is applied to the rest of the housing market.
Last month the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors claimed to have found another loophole, saying that sellers could order a Hip but avoid payment by completing the transaction before the pack was completed.
However, the director general of the Association of Home Information Pack Providers, Mike Ockenden, called the claims "nothing more than typical anti-Hip propaganda".
25 Jul 2007
