Effects of HIPS
This new system of reporting on all properties which will/has come into effect on June 1st 2007 has caused ripples throughout the UK on every level, from the normal person on the street, through Estate Agents, property buyers and developers, ruling bodies such as the Royal Institutes of Chartered surveyors, property solicitors and even up to the highest levels of government including Premier elect Gordon Brown and the House of Lords.
Roughly two weeks before its official it is going back to another House of Lords vote, to see if there is going to be real benefit for house buyers and sellers. Gordon Brown, himself, has publicly injected into the debate that it mat not be a good time for the system to be introduced.
There are some potential negatives in HIPS
The added cost, estimated to be between £400.00 and £1000.00 will undoubtedly raise the house prices yet again. At the time of publishing this information, there has just been one increase in interest rates, with a second imminent. General consensus is that these raises have been introduced to stem rising house prices. HIPS may have a detrimental effect on this.
Home Information Packs and Estate Agents
Although the ruling body of Estate agents has declared that one HIPS is enough to sell your house, their is no actual ruling in place to stop agencies demanding that you can only sell your house through them if you have a HIPS undertaken by them, so in effect, they could tie you to just one agent, or you could face the prospect of having to have multiple reports done, to advertise your property in multiple places.
Registered HIPS providers
Another concern is that their may not be enough qualified surveyors to cope with demand. In essence you could end up waiting for up to and in excess of four months to actual have your report done, then you have to wait for the actual paperwork to be sent to you, before putting your property to market. This means that selling your property can potentially take up to an extra half a year. This is not good for sellers that need a quick sale, be it for financial reasons or whatever. It
could escalate into a rash of repossessions and people having to declare themselves bankrupt.
The positives of HIPS
Energy consumption and global warming have been an issue in higher politics for decades now. From Parliament, through to the EU in Brussels, more and more legislations and directives are coming through to cut co2 emissions, which are believed to contribute to global warming, and also to try and cut energy consumptions. HIPS will give potential buyers of your property an indication into energy uses from your property.
The government is going to build up a portfolio by localisation of where is a good energy areas, compared to bad users of energy. Ultimately, this may affect house prices in that area.
It could also lead to good employment figures, the extra manpower needed to conduct reports and for people on the administration side of the reports.
|
