Hips 'will reduce' first-timer buyer costs
Published On 2 December 2007
Home information packs (Hips) will save first-time buyers and ease the property purchase process, despite controversy over their introduction.Lesley Sorridimi from Hip Hip Hooray.com said that the packs, which will be compulsory for all homes for sale from December 14th, will cut the cost of local authority searches.
"A local authority search can, depending on your area, be anything from £60 to £300 and that alone is worth getting the Hip for," she said.
Before Hips were introduced, the buyer would have had to cover the cost of most of the early conveyancing work. Now, some of that cost is absorbed by the seller as a condition of the pack.
"It's giving them information they would have had to have had upfront, and it's paid for already by the vendor," Ms Sorridimi said.
Hips are currently only mandatory for houses with three or more bedrooms, which account for 70 per cent of the market.
