Return of Surveys (HCRs) to improve HIPs?
The general public consensus of opinion that HIPs are ‘useless’ derives mainly from the omission of the most important part of the original concept - the upfront seller-provided Survey. In its present form, the HIP does nothing to ease the present procedure of: Buyer offer, Buyer-funded Survey, Buyer/Seller renegotiation on basis of survey results.
The Government’s own statistics showed that the most common cause of a house-sale breakdown was the stage following the survey. An upfront Survey provided by the seller as part of an information pack would hopefully show that necessary repairs etc. had been taken into account in the price and therefore not a topic for dispute and possible failure of the sale. It would give a true picture of the property to all prospective buyers and would only need to be done once per sale. The only people who could possibly benefit from this consistent breakdown were the surveyors who automatically benefited from multiple (buyer-funded) surveys of the same building!
Unfortunately due to opposition from the surveyors official body, the RICS, and weak leadership from the Minister in charge, the Survey (or Home Condition Report - HCR as it was called) was dropped from the initial HIP requirements.
The HCR has remained an optional voluntary part of a HIP pack but has not been widely taken up because it is initially seen as an additional selling cost. This is despite the fact that both buyers and sellers in the HIP trials (over a year ago now!) where HCRs were included, pointed to them as the single greatest contributor to a fast, confident sale/purchase. The HCR gave the information the Buyers really needed to see. The rest of the HIP (searches etc.) was seen as a bit peripheral to buyer’s and seller’s real requirements.
The HCR may however be on its way back!
In a Parliamentary response to a question on home information packs on Monday 30th June, Housing Minister, Caroline Flint said that the Home Condition Report remains a valuable element of the Home Information Pack.
The actual question and response were:
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether she plans to make home condition reports a compulsory component of home information packs. [213892]
Caroline Flint: The Home Condition Report remains a valuable element of the Home Information Pack. The Government will continue to work with stakeholders to make a success of the voluntary uptake of the HCR. The mandatory option has not been ruled out should this voluntary approach not work.
Does this show a Minister with more backbone? Is she going to make HIPs work properly for the benefit of Buyers and Sellers and not a worthy effort strangled at birth by vested interests? Only time will tell but it looks encouraging.