As of 10:10 this morning Home Information Packs have been suspended. Pali would like to reassure you that www.hipview.co.uk will stay online and any HIPs which have been ordered via the site will continue to be accessible for the foreseeable future.

Pali will continue to provide conveyancing searches to solicitors, property professionals and the public. This can still be done though Hipview, or alternatively you may choose to use our new website www.paliltd.com.

We would like to take this opportunity of saying what a pleasure it has been working with Energy Assessors and HIP Providers over the last few years. We thank you for your business and loyalty. We have all had a turbulent time and feel a great injustice has been done. We wish you the very best for the future. We will continue to hold your details in our database and if we can offer you anything in the future by way of EPCs or other proposals I hope you won’t mind if we contact you.

Good luck to you all.

Pali Team.

Centuries of British tradition has been swept away because a builder was just too cheeky. Robert Fidler (real name), 60, secretly built his dream home and cunningly hid it behind tarpaulin, disguising it as a haystack. He lived in it for four years. It was a flagrant attempt to take advantage of a loophole in local planning regulations which, in theory, means that buildings erected without permission to be declared legal if no objections are made after four years.

He even allowed a TV programme to be made about the castle.

But a judge in the High Court ruled that the building, near Redhill, Surrey was unlawful and that Fidler could not benefit from his deception. The castle, its conservatory, marquee, bridge, patio, decking and tarmac racecourse (yes really) will now be knocked down.
“This was a blatant attempt to flout the law,” said a spokesman for Reigate and Banstead Borough Council. Mr Fidler will of course, appeal.

No Sale No Fee HIPs – Free HIP if your Home Does Not Sell Within 9 Months

No Sale No Fee Home Information Packs are now available from Pali via Hipview.

Pali have been offering a deferred payment option now on Home Information Packs ordered through Hipview for over 12 months. You can now add an insurance policy to the deferred payment solution meaning that should the property remain on the market in excess of 9 months the HIP won’t cost a penny.

If you or your client choose the No Sale No Fee option when ordering the Home Information Pack the only initial cost will be £30. If the property sells within 9 months the HIP is payable on completion, but if it remains on the market for longer than nine months then any direct costs incurred for the HIP can be claimed back and what’s more, the HIP should still be valid.

For more information please telephone 0151 691 1170 or email nick@paliltd.com

Terms and Conditions:

There are some key conditions to the policy which should noted:
• The HIP Provider/ Estate Agent must note any recommendation to alter the sale price of the property made by the Estate Agent and Seller
• The Seller must comply with any advice given by the Estate Agent to reduce the price of the property and may not reject two or more offers within 90% of the asking price
• The HIP Provider/Estate Agent must note the rejection of any offer made on the property
• The property must be continually marketed during the period of insurance
• The property must be kept in a good state of repair
• The Property is a single private residential house or flat which is build complete at the order date.
• The Home Information Pack for which this cover is required has been produced in accordance with the relevant Home Information Pack Regulations.
• The Seller is not aware of any matter which could lead to a claim under the Policy.

A full set of Terms and Conditions will be provided with the Insurance Guarantee and are also available on request, or by clicking here.

For more information please contact your local Pali office or email: nick@paliltd.com or telephone 0151 691 1170 or visit our webpage.

Grant Shapps, the “campaigner” has carried out yet another PR stunt. This time he wrapped a house in red tape in an attempt to highlight the bureaucracy of the home information packs.

The owners of the home, David and Helen Wright, where apparently released from their “red tape hell” by the hero Shapps. Apparently they went on to sell their house due to the publicity received; I bet they had no complaints about the speedy completion process.

Hips 1 – Shapps 0.

Some of you may remember previous Shapps Stunts. He slept homeless on the streets in London on Christmas Eve in London to highlight the problems of the homeless, well Mr Shapps it is a shame that did not solve the problem of homelessness and scrapping the HIP’s will not solve the Recession.

With buy now pay nothing until completion Hips that are exchange ready from PALI the house selling and purchasing process has never been so quick and cheap. Hips are floored, they need fixing, not scrapping.

 

 

The Association of Independent Personal Search Agents (IPSA) has today completed a partial survey of its members in relation to their combined burden of bad debt. The survey has revealed the amount IPSA members have written-off since the introduction of Home Information Packs due to non-payment, liquidation, alleged fraudulent trading and improper business conduct.

Christian Lister, IPSA Chairman is shocked by the results, he commented; ‘The results are horrific especially when the majority of the debt instigators were PCCB registered or members of a hip trade association displaying the HIP Code logo. Allowing for the fact that these are only interim figures* with some members yet to finalise their losses the total number could well exceed seven figures. These institutions set industry standards and are there to give the consumer confidence in the quality of the product they are purchasing.’

Home Information Pack providers are at the frontline in dealing with consumers, mostly taking payment for goods up-front. ‘Some of these
companies have left a trail of destruction in their wake,’ stated IPSA member Steve Davies. He continued: ‘As search agents we are required to pay for Professional Indemnity Insurance as protection for all consumers using our services. All of these failed HIP companies have left their suppliers with hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of unpaid bills, which raises the issue of the title of goods being called into question.’

The auditable figure of £779,561.30* if divided by the average cost of a member’s search fee would mean that insurers have not passed title on these unpaid goods, leaving an estimated 7796 Local Authority Searches within Home Information Packs uninsured.

‘This is a consumer’s worst nightmare,’ said Christian, ‘and I believe the PCCB and hip trade associations must now stand on their key message of consumer protection and investigate the implications of this to the general public at large. I will not accept that this situation is, as one trade association Director is reported to have remarked ‘it’s just business’. It’s almost criminal and something must be done

In the continuing struggle by personal search companies to gain their legally entitled access to environmental information, the Basildon office of PALI (Property And Land Information) lodged a complaint against Maldon Council for refusing access to Building Control records and charging to provide information contained there in. Jeremy Tyler of the Basildon office complained that Maldon were operating restrictive practices as the information he was requesting access to was environmental and should be available to the public free of charge. The council disputed this and continued to refuse access to the information. Jeremy requested that his complaint be entered into the councils complaints review process. Maldon re-iterated its refusal so Jeremy reported the council to The Information Commissioners Office (ICO) which rules on these matters.

As the ICO had already ruled on two similar cases it was expected that the ruling would be in line with these previous rulings. That is in fact what happened and the ruling was in favour of PALI and against Maldon.
The full report and decision by the ICO can be read on this blog by
clicking here. In summary the decision was that the information requested was environmental and access should be freely available at a point designated for that purpose and within a reasonable time scale.

Nick Small of Pali Ltd Merseyside, The PALI head office said “This is good news for the Personal Search Companies and Home Information Pack ( HIP ) providers, We at PALI are determined to keep our prices as competitive as possible for the benefit of the consumer and our clients. The price rises imposed by the councils since April this year have had the effect of forcing up the cost of searches and Home Information Packs ( Hips )’.

The proposed doubling of the charges to access the Land Charges registers by councils in January will further drive up these cost so it is important that we make a stand against abuses of monopoly positions, restrictive practises, restraint of trade and illegal charges. Various offices of PALI have similar complaints lodged with the ICO currently and are hopeful of similar decisions. These will be reported on this blog as and when they are published.

Decision Notice

#ukgovOSS

There has been a lot of talk from the Conservative party about scrapping Home Information Packs if and when they are elected.

Pali has been providing Conveyancing Searches to Solicitors and Property Professionals since 1999. With the introduction of Home Information Packs in 2007 their client base expanded to include HIP Providers, Estate Agents and members of the public. The website Hipview was set up to assist people in the ordering, tracking, viewing and storing of Home Information Packs.

While the company has changed to accommodate the new legislation of the Home Information Packs, it is not reliant on them. However it is Pali’s opinion that they should not be scrapped, but instead worked on to improve them and fulfil the function they were originally put in place to do.

The main objectives of the HIPs should be:

• To give potential buyers information upfront on properties they are considering purchasing.
• To speed up the conveyancing process.
• To cut down on duplication of reports being purchased by multiple potential buyers.
• To give all interested parties information of energy consumption and CO2 emissions, indicating where financial savings on fuel bills can be made and reducing climate change.

Taking these points into consideration, improvements could be made certainly on the first two. The Home Information Pack was originally intended to include a condition rating on the property in the form of a Home Condition Report. In Pali’s opinion this was the most important and useful element of the pack for potential purchasers. When the Labour Government decided to make this document optional it seriously damaged the pack. If the Home Condition Report, or another similar survey was re-introduced as a required component, in Pali’s opinion, the packs would be of much more interest to potential purchasers and save hundreds of pounds on wasted surveys.
Home Information Packs have undoubtedly all ready speeded up the conveyancing process, however it doesn’t go far enough. With the implementation of an Exchange Ready HIP, the conveyancing process could be much quicker. The Exchange Ready HIP would have a lot more information added to the HIP which would normally be enquiries made by the purchasers solicitor once sale was agreed. Other documents can also be included such as fixtures and contents forms, draft contract, the Property Information Form etc. It would be advisable that the Exchange Ready pack be produced in association with a Solicitor, however AHIPP are currently working on a form, the PDQ, which would cover most of this information.

Simply implementing both of the above points would make the Home Information Pack a much more worthwhile product, but they are by no means the only improvements which could be made. What is certain is scrapping the HIPs completely would be a mistake, with a little more work all of the time and effort which has brought the packs to this point would not be wasted. In scrapping them and going back to the drawing board the added expense would be phenomenal. One thing most people are agreed on is the process buying and selling of property needs improving and information upfront seems to be the best way to achieve this goal.

Your comments are welcome.

CALL 0151 691 1170

Need to get your property on the market fast and don’t want to be slowed down by the Home Information Pack regulations? Pali can supply you with the HIP components that must be in place before a residential property can be marketed very quickly.

A property cannot be legally marketed until the following elements of a Home Information Pack are in place:
Index
Sale Statement
Property Information Questionnaire
Land Registry Office Copy & Title Plan (Registered Properties)
Search of the Index Map Register (Unregistered Properties)
Energy Performance Certificate.

Pali’s online systems mean that the majority of the above will be in place usually within an hour or so of the order being taken. As long as the Energy Assessor is able to gain access to the property immediately there should be no reason there is a delay in marketing your home.

Orders for Home Information Packs can be placed by CLICKING HERE or telephoning 0151 691 1170.

Telephone 0151 691 1170

The current economic climate has caused many companies to go out of business. Home Information Pack providers have been affected by this more so as they are linked directly to the property industry and many were new companies set up when the HIP regulations were introduced.

The result of these HIP companies closing has been that many property vendors have either lost or never received the Home Information Packs they have paid for.

Pali have been providing conveyancing searches, the core elements of the HIP, since 1999. In 2007 Pali launched their website Hipview which enabled Hips to be ordered and stored in one place.

Hipview is available for anyone to use. If you have recently purchased a HIP, or are considering doing so, be sure to insist that your HIP Provider used Hipview to store the final product. As all of the HIPs on Hipview are stored and archived on secure servers located in the North West of England, you can rest assured that if your HIP Provider disappears, your HIP won’t. Every Home Information Pack stored on Hipview has a unique security PIN (Property Identification Number) and URL, for quick and easy access.

Alternatively you can order your full Home Information Pack from Pali. Simply Click Here or telephone
0151 691 1170.