Estate agents accused of not providing buyers with Hips

Posted: 04 Aug 2008 13:20:59 GMT

A number of estate agents have been accused of breaking the law by not providing prospective buyers with Home Information Packs (Hips).

The BBC has claimed that sellers are reluctant to pay for the packs, which can cost up to £400, especially as the housing market is slowing and property is on the market for longer.

Commenting on the increasing number of cases they are seeing, Paul Marsh, president of the Law Society, said: "The evidence we're receiving from right across the country, be it Cornwall, London or the north-east of England, is that solicitors are not receiving a Hip when the deal is struck."

He carried on to say that he would have expected the Hips to be available as soon as an offer had been accepted but said that in fact they were not receiving Hips until three to four weeks after.

Hips were initially introduced to provide prospective purchasers with useful information about a property and to speed up transaction times for both buyers and sellers.

Recent developments suggested the creation of questionnaires to be completed by a vendor which would include information on recent building work and council tax banding.

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