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(22/08/07)
Barclays and HSBC happy with HIPs ... |
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(17/08/07)
Next stage for Home Information Packs and .... |
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(01/08/07)
HIPs Launched : Home Information.... |
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| Barclays and HSBC happy with HIPs (22/08/07) |
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| Two big mortgage lenders, HSBC and Barclays, have denied that they are unhappy with the recently introduced Home Information Packs (HIPs). |
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The packs require sellers to provide information such as planning permission and copies of title deeds to buyers.
The Daily Mail had claimed that the banks would ask buyers to carry out extra searches as they did not trust the information in the HIPs.
However, the lenders said they just wanted them vetted by a solicitor. |
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| No worries? |
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The government denied there was any problem with the reliability of personal searches of local authority information, as opposed to information supplied directly by the council in response to a solicitor's request.
"The HIPs legislation brought in a stringent code of practice for personal search companies," said a spokesman for the Communities and Local Government department (DCLG).
"They now have to have insurance cover for the searches they provide."
A spokesman for HIP providers said the lenders had nothing to worry about.
"They have no need to be concerned at all," said Paul Broadhead of the Association of Home Information Pack Providers (AHIPP).
"50% of all local authority searches are already done by personal search organisations."
He added: "They get exactly the same information as a solicitor would and mortgage lenders accept them already."
A spokesman for the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) added: "Lenders have agreed that as long as the property search organisation is a member of the Council of Property Search Organisations then the lenders will accept that search." |
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| Supportive |
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A spokesman for HSBC said there was nothing new about his bank's policy and stressed that the bank was supportive of the introduction of HIPs.
"But we have never accepted private searches rather than those from a solicitor," he said.
"We just need to be sure that the customer's solicitor will sign off the search so that it is covered by their personal indemnity insurance," he added.
A spokeswoman for Barclays agreed.
"We will accept a personal search, at the conveyancer's risk.
"We are not demanding that house buyers spend more money on more searches," she said.
Barclays currently has 5% of the new mortgage market while HSBC has 4%. |
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| Law society |
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The local authority search has been a compulsory feature of the conveyancing process since 1925.
It involves a buyer, or their solicitor or other representative, asking a set of standard questions about a property, covering local authority plans for the street or area, and any planning permission granted for the building or neighboring ones.
This should also show up any restrictions on the way the property can be used, for instance the existence of smoke control orders, conservation areas, tree preservation orders, and any financial charges where the council could recover money owed to it.
The aim is to make sure that the buyer does not get a nasty surprise once they have bought the house or flat. |
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