HIPS what a load of .............

[Chipper]

Woke up this morning and switched on the news to hear that estate agents are putting houses on the market whithout HIPs.

Now imo the goverment introduced Stamp Duty simply on the basis that they didn't like people making all this money from property and as time went on they decided that they were still not taking enough and so they invented HIPs , trained a huge number of people to do a job that no one wanted and that seems to offer no benefit to all parties.

I can't see the goverment getting rid of HIPs as they started the whole thing in the first place and IMO HIPs and Labour goverment are the same thing, very expensive, doing a pointless job and nobody wants them!

[audidoody]

Please don't look for logic from this moronic Government:

Here's what that that one-eyed loon who is currently residing in Number 10 said about house prices in April:

"My aim and my priority is that we can lead the people in Britain through this economic problem and do so by taking the right decisions to get liquidity to the banks, to make sure that the housing market starts moving again"

And here's what he said in 1997:

"Stability will be central to our policy to help homeowners. And we must be prepared to take the action necessary to secure it.
I will not allow house prices to get out of control and put at risk the sustainability of the recovery"

I didn't make this up.

[Jasandjules]

HIPS are, IMHO, a requirement of the Treaty of Rome (IIRC) - some form of identification as to the environmentally friendliness of all houses.

[Simpo Two]

But we don't live in bloody Rome.



I bet the Italians don't have HIPS!

[Yugguy]

Simpo Two said:

But we don't live in bloody Rome.



I bet the Italians don't have HIPS!

Hehehe, welcome to gold-plating.

[Sam_68]

Jasandjules said:

....some form of identification as to the environmentally friendliness of all houses.

You do realise what a complete con HIPs are, in terms environmental friendliness, though, don't you?

The EPC (Energy Performance Certificate) that comes with the HIPs pack is a complete waste of time. Even on new-build houses, where you can be reasonably certain of the construction and build quality, the EPC is just a complete lie...

[anonymous-user]

The only aspect of the HIP that was agreed by the treaty of Rome is the EPC and not until 2010.

[minimax]

Jasandjules said:

HIPS are, IMHO, a requirement of the Treaty of Rome (IIRC) - some form of identification as to the environmentally friendliness of all houses.

this is correct, the simple reason that we have HIPS is that the govt could not think of any other way to package it up and make the public swallow it.

they resurrected the idea of HIPs from the 1980's and changed them a wee bit, added some spin and sent it out as a "green" initiative, but really it's just a way of fulfilling one of our rome/kyoto agreements..

..not a lot of people know this, I reckon

also, to the OP: I have read that report, and as far as I can tell it is only saying the agents are marketing properties without a HIP in place. this is (at the moment) totally legal, the HIP only needs to have been ordered before a property can be marketed

[69elan+2]

So can someone tell me how these things effect those of use that live in an early victorian house, that has old sash windows that rattle in the slightest breeze, no mains gas, a loft so big that you could fit a factory full of immigrants in there.

However, and I'm sure I'm not on my own here, - I certainly wouldn't want to live in a modern box that conforms to modern standards of insulation and energy efficiency.

Yes its bloomin cold here in the winter, but its built like a bombshelter and I love it

If this place was put through HIPS I think it would probably be off the bottom of the scale!!

[Kickstart]

When we had our HIPS report done for our Grade II listed Victorian property the "surveyor" told us that we could improve the efficiency of the house by putting in double glazing...Don't think English Heritage would be too impressed if we ripped out the original sashs.

[escargot]

So do you actually have to have a HIP before the property goes on the market or not? My agent said you did.

[69elan+2]

Kickstart said:

When we had our HIPS report done for our Grade II listed Victorian property the "surveyor" told us that we could improve the efficiency of the house by putting in double glazing...Don't think English Heritage would be too impressed if we ripped out the original sashs.

Thats my point, its grade II listed and in a conservation area + I love the original sash windows!... I just have very thick curtains for the winter. I get by quite nicely without central heating (okay - so it means I live like a pensioner and only heat one room up ) but from the end of March untill October I usually have the windows open every day and would rather live in an older, unique house than a newer build.

[Simond001]

Just had a HIPs report done.

Solid flint walls. Downgraded as they dont have cavity wall insulation.

Tried to explain that it was physically impossible to do, and the inspector replied "Dont worry about it, this is all a load of bks anyway".

Made me feel better about spending £395!

To be fair he did do a pretty picture of the layout

http://www.cubittandwest.co.uk/searchresults/prope...

http://www.cubittandwest.co.uk/searchresults/floor...

[anonymous-user]

£395!!

The HIP company i use now charge £195 inc VAT, mind you, it's an extra £15 if you want a hard copy.

[h4muf]

I`ve just got stung for £375 as well.

Utter tosh...

[NDA]

I'm selling two houses at the moment - one was built in 1700. Both HIPs documents suggest covering the roofs in solar panels to save £34 a year in heating. Both 'surveyors' did not check into the roof for insulation but took my word for it that it was there, both surveyors marked 'assume poor' on cavity wall insulation despite both having new insulation in the walls, one house has a brand new boiler (a good one) and it was marked 'poor' for efficiency. And so on.

HIPs were always thought to be a terrible idea by both sellers and buyers - they have now proved to be so. A massive waste of money and, of course, they are time sensitive and need to be renewed after 12 months.

The latest scam is that the government are considering adding a structural survey to the HIP.

[fido]

Jasandjules said:

HIPS are, IMHO, a requirement of the Treaty of Rome (IIRC) - some form of identification as to the environmentally friendliness of all houses.

[pedant_mode]wrong, an EPC is a requirement of the Treaty of Rome.[/off] i got mine done for approx. £150 (3-bed detached?) and didn't bother with the HIP bit. still a waste of money, but a slightly more justafiable waste of money.

Edited by fido on Saturday 2nd August 16:51

[mybrainhurts]

What's an EPC...?

[andygo]

mybrainhurts said:

What's an EPC...?

Read the thread mate, its all there....


HTH

[ln1234]

one of the original ideas for introducing HIPS, were to minimise the costs potential homebuyers would face if the deal didn't go through - in the guise of surveyors fees etc. The idea was to include a full structural survey in the HIPS report so the buyer could read it before commissioning one of their own. This sounded like a great idea till the surveyors institue realised how much money they would lose from these 'wasted' surveys. A great deal of lobbying later and this was removed from the HIPS report.

I think it would be much fairer for HIPS to include a full survey, including any items that would need to be rectified. At least then it might have some use for a prospective buyer.