Independent Financial Advisors for IT Contractors
Home Information Packs or HIP's as they are commonly known as, are here to stay sadly. The Government first announced that from the 1 August 2007 all properties put on the market to sell, in England & Wales, with 4 or more bedrooms would require a HIP. This was extended to 3 bedroom properties on the 10 September 2007 and it has now been announced that as from 14 December 2007, 1 & 2 bedroom properties will also require a HIP. This means that from the 14 December 2007 all properties in England & Wales will now require a HIP. Scotland is set to get its own 'Home Report' from 1 December 2008.
Although most of the information included in a HIP is standard stuff which Conveyancers would normally have gathered in the course of finalising the sale, the one big change has been the inclusion of energy performance certificates. The idea of the energy performance certificate is to enable buyers to see the property's energy efficiency - a bit like when you buy a fridge! The Domestic Energy Assessor will collect data and produce the EPC. The report will estimate the current fuel costs for the property and then give measures that could be taken to improve the energy efficiency and how much these improvements would cost. The obvious advantage to sellers is that the more energy efficient the property the better the price they should be able to achieve but the danger is that buyers will use a vendors own HIP as a tool with which to extract a cost reduction by highlighting potential costs to be incurred to improve the homes energy efficiency.
A whole new industry has sprung up to supply packs to vendors and the charges and offers vary hugely. There are providers offering anything from 'free' HIPs to 'cheap' HIPs. However, the new breed of Domestic Energy Assessors, have to be remunerated somehow so taking the time to 'read the small print' and research various options is vitally important.
At ContractorMoney we recognise that, our clients are busy professionals who will not have the time between meeting the needs of their contract to research the best options available. To this end we have launched ContractorsHIPS to offer our clients a personalised HIP service with the added advantage of our being able to monitor the progress for you and keep you updated at all times.
Any recommendations we make to you are based on your needs and circumstances and we'll reconfirm any advice we make to you in writing.
Please complete the HIP Finder and we will be in touch shortly.
Steve BirchallThe whole process was so quick and easy with no worries...
Nick WilliamsI would have no hesitation in recommending your company to others...
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