Godstone, Surrey - Estate Agents are starting to acknowledge and appreciate the added value of the Firsthips system when receiving accurate HIPs that have been compiled and approved by property lawyers. A lawyer prepared HIP is proving to be critical in achieving quicker exchange and completion times for property sales; the main objective of HIPs. Some of Firsthips’ most recently registered estate agents reported having experienced problems with buyer's lawyers rejecting badly assembled HIPs. The problem appears to be widespread as the government has published the following warning regarding the use of valid documents:
"It has come to our attention that some HIP providers are including 'Register Views' obtained from Land Registry Direct as evidence of title for the purposes of regulation 8(e) of the Home Information Pack (No.2) Regulations 2007. However the regulation requires the inclusion of an 'official copy' of the individual register and title plan and a register view is not sufficient for these purposes in our view.
Official copies are required as these are encrypted documents that the Land Registry will stand by - if there are any errors in the register for example - and are therefore acceptable during the conveyancing process. Although the information they contain is similar, register views have no such status."
Robert Bennett, senior account manager with Firsthips, comments on the government announcement.
“The devil is in the detail. We’ve made it our business to keep abreast of the rules and regulations as and when they have been published and tried to anticipate and avoid this sort of problem. It causes unnecessary delays and ill-feeling between estate agents and property lawyers not to mention giving HIPs unnecessarily negative publicity. By ensuring that all our HIPs are approved by lawyers prior to their release, there is a guarantee of accuracy when they reach the buyer’s lawyer.”
For additional information on the news that is the subject of this release, or to subscribe to the “Firsthips Review”, a periodical e-newsletter, contact Luke Burton or visit http://www.firsthips.com
