HIP provider attacks Tory stance on Packs

and if all HIP providers were like you Rob, then the process might be more palatable for the agents. HIPs are like communism, a great idea in theory, but tried and failed nonetheless.

• 04 February 2009 10:09 AM

HomeHunter, you completely miss the point. Our wallchart is not a clock or an indication of any particular timeline it is a process map for you to follow. We have today and regulary, completed a Hip within four working days, two days is our record. That Hip will now be made "exchange ready" whilst the property is being marketed. It will result in a quicker, easier sale. Please, take the blinkers off. As long as Hips are with us I will always endeavour to produce the best possible, if they go, so be it.

• 03 February 2009 20:21 PM

So far everything we expected of HIPs has come to pass. They are loathed by sellers, of little if any interest to buyers and they are neither saving the consumer money nor speeding up transactions. Come April and the ending of First Day Marketing and the public will loathe HIPs even more.
Join SPLINTA and help us end this nonsense!

• 03 February 2009 16:53 PM

Congratulations to the Tory party - you will be getting my vote. Let's bury this completely useless piece of red tape. Brought in to supposedly save the money wasted in abortive transactions I suspect that there has been significantly more money wasted in Hips that have been produced and never used, duplicate searches etc. As an estate agent of 25 years experience the one thing I can see that Hips has achieved is a large reduction in the number of properties being marketed, causing a drop in sales revenue and staff redundancies. Surely the Government must be concerned about the drop in Stamp Duty revenue combined with the amount of failing businesses and people claiming benefit as a result. A general election can't come a minute too soon.

• 03 February 2009 14:47 PM

We don't want them, they don't do anything and they must and will GO !

• 03 February 2009 13:33 PM

Dunno why they didnt properly consult us agent before implementing these stupid things.

GET RID OF THEM!

Anyoen selling hips is just tryna make some easy money, well thats what they though initially, now look, they are all going bust, i wonder when Simply Hip will go.

• 03 February 2009 12:56 PM

1 in 10 properties are selling at the moment so 9 out of 10 of all hips being produced are just a huge waste. Scrap Hips and make a buyer do an epc survey with the mortgage valuation/homebuyers report.

• 03 February 2009 09:34 AM

HIP's are a waste of time. I've been an agent for 21 years and never seen such a pantomine. Nobody ever asks to see them other than conveyancer when agreed a sale. It does not spead up the process. It certainly stops impulsive sellars which is a bad thing! Who whats to spend £200-£250 pounds if they see a one off property and would't move unless they get that house! It just stiffles the market place in my humble opinion!

• 02 February 2009 23:33 PM

Rob, you cannot be serious! If you want a good old laugh Steve just take a look at HIPAG's Clock Wallchart of the HIP process on their website. Pre HIPS agents were off the starting block at one minute passed the top of the hour! What a superb example of why HIPs need to go. Rob, is it really any wonder your day is now coming to an end?

• 02 February 2009 19:28 PM

Steve, you won't loose two to four weeks, at mamiximun two to four days. Even less in most cases. Change your Hip supplier?

• 02 February 2009 16:21 PM

last year was bad,this year doesn't look good and come April we will lose between 2 and 4 weeks waiting to market a home in what is tradionally a lively market period.Its perhaps not that Hips don't work but noone wants nor asks for them though as an EU directive we have to keep the epc so just ditch the rest of the hip.

• 02 February 2009 16:10 PM

HIP providers have got too used to a government that was totally sold on their own argument and did not listen to most property experts. Trials were far from impartial and now theyr'e screaming because they may have to face a government that is anti hip. HIP providers were advised to find a new career path when the HCR was abandoned but obviously thought that Gordo's government was going to last for ever. Well hard luck the gravy train is about to hit the buffers. Go and get a proper job.

• 02 February 2009 16:02 PM

HIPS Do help. But to gain from them the public and by the looks of things- a lot of agents need to actually read them and see the contents and then you will see the pack and how it will help you!
Get off Facebook and READ a HIP then you might understand them and see a use to them!!!

• 02 February 2009 15:07 PM

That is pretty much how Hipag works Ray.

• 02 February 2009 14:43 PM

This complete disregard for public opinion is the equivalent of sticking your fingers in your ears and shouting "mee-mee-mee-mee-mee-mee-mee-ee-mee-mee-mee-mee-mee" To pretend that all these adverse comments are frivolous is pathethtic. Just because you got sucked in, don't try and tell the rest of us we don't know what's best. We didn't get conned. You did! Bite the bullet and accept you were mugged, then let the Tories bury this mess where it belongs.

• 02 February 2009 14:41 PM

Rob Hailstone,
As the proprietor of a professional qualified PROGRESSIVE agent for over 30 years, just scrap the HIP and legislate that conveyancers must be instructed to copile the doc's on first day marketing. Simple.

• 02 February 2009 14:34 PM

Work with your local lawyer, work with a good, innovative Hip provider and together you will produce a Hip that delivers, or keep your heads in the sand and simply hope for the best! Despite what Secret Agent says, not all Hip providers are in in for the money.

• 02 February 2009 14:17 PM

Scrap the HIP. Just another VAT scheme for the suffering government. Can we all ask the government to start worrying about other things and leave us Estate Agents alone. Things were fine before the HIP came in.

• 02 February 2009 14:14 PM

I think the day the HCR was scrapped any argumant over how useful a HIP is pointless. That whole concept of HIP was sold around the HCR!! without it a HIP niether speeds up or hleps anybody but the provider themsleves. I have worked in the HIP industry and sat around the board room table and all the providers talk about is thier profit, so to read such comments from Mr King spouting moral and industry responsibities is a pure joke!!

• 02 February 2009 13:51 PM

With the exception of EPC's conveyancing hasn't changed under HIP's so why do we need a middle man (ie HIP industry). What a waste of money, 2 people doing one job.

• 02 February 2009 13:45 PM

The housing market is similar to a 78 year old woman with a walking stick....both in need of a HIP replacement !!!

• 02 February 2009 13:31 PM

'It would be rash of the Conservative Party to scrap the legislation without first conducting a thorough evaluation of the Packs and their true impact on the market' How much more evaluation is needed. When they were muted over 6 years ago some of us could see they would be useless, we've had 12 months of mainly negative feed back, and they are gumming up the works and if anything putting off cash sellers/buyers to test the water. I just hope the conservatives don't change their minds, but I can't see why on earth they would in this case. I do notice a lack of HIP providers advertizing lately.

• 02 February 2009 13:28 PM

At a time when buyers are asking for reductions in selling prices if it has taken 2 months to progress from offer to exchange, surely the benefit to agents & solicitors alike is obvious. We want the sales completed asap to stop fall throughs, and the HIPs DO HELP! There is no denying it.

• 02 February 2009 13:24 PM

Ray, as an ex conveyancer I would have been delighted for all of my clients to instruct me on day one (many did with the help of some agent introducers). Are you really suggesting we go back to the drawing board now, when we can work with what we have?

• 02 February 2009 13:21 PM

James quoted
'i have had 1 client look at one HIP in the whole of 2008' Beat you James, we had two purchasers ask, and one of them was Polish! in 2008
HIPs are a load of ****** for what they are supposed to do. But having said that, I like them because they stop the time-wasters coming on the market for a week and them deciding not to sell. Because they have to paid some money up front it cuts out the 'I'm play at selling my property' lot

• 02 February 2009 13:15 PM

Surprise! Surprise! A HIP's provider saying this about his useless and un-necessary business. All that was and is needed is legislation to ensure that a conveyancer is instructed to prepare the documentation at the same time a property is marketed. EPC's are an entirely different matter. Stop listening to these vested interests

• 02 February 2009 13:07 PM

We have solicitor customers who agree that Hips can help speed things up. We are woking towards producing an "exchange ready Hip" but would get there quicker with the help of more agents and lawyers. Clive, what do you suggest? Tony, do you really think the old way was good enough?

• 02 February 2009 13:05 PM

HIPs are simply a tax on moving home. They serve no useful purpose whatsoever. Since their introduction only two buyers have asked to see one - that's two requests out of hundreds of viewings. The Conservatives are quite right to scrap them. As for the EPC, why not use the money for a purpose, like subsidising roof insulation for all house sellers?

• 02 February 2009 12:59 PM

I'm with notdoingmuchrightnow. Its hardly a surprise. Frankly, I'd vote for Bagpuss rather than the Labour party.

• 02 February 2009 12:56 PM

It's not hard to understand why Mr King is so upset, the whole HIPS industry was sucked into the idea of HIPS !which was ill conceived from the outset, it is a common fact that the HIPS does not speed up the selling process, and the only reason it has not been scrapped is that the Labour party strapped an environmental ticket on it. So what’s the point of keeping something that has no value or real benefit? I would like to see one person who has implemented the recommendations of the EPC

• 02 February 2009 12:52 PM

What a waste of money all this hips and epc.....nobody cares about the epc or even looks at it either. The hips thing is the worst idea in living memory. Now come on, hear the people in property. Scrap all these useless ideas, talk to us and let's find a decent solution.

• 02 February 2009 12:51 PM

Lets be honest, since the introduction of HIP's i have had 1 client look at one HIP in the whole of 2008, they are just a tax nothing more and nothing less, my completions and broken chains have stayed the same, only a HIP provider & Nu Labour say it is doing anything for the market, perhaps when you could sell a house in less than a week it was ok but now it is a waste of time, and EPC are just as bad, how many can you print out of a tree

• 02 February 2009 12:45 PM

The Conservatives are right Scrap HIPS, lets get "Back to Basics" it was far easier and better. The public liked it that way to!

• 02 February 2009 12:43 PM

mmmm surprising comment from a HIP provider NOT. You'll be getting quotes from Turkeys suggesting Xmas should be scrapped...not real news really.

• 02 February 2009 12:36 PM

Whilst I understand Mr King's views on the future of HIPS under the next Conservative Government. He must concede that the vast majority of people who have hade to pay for them have not come out with huge praise and or comments of good value. The fact is that it is an an additional cost to hme sellers and only of interest to tyre kickers and a few passionate Green potential buyers. To spend money on assessing the virtue of HIPS by another quango would be crazy.

• 02 February 2009 10:12 AM