I have been prompted by a comment to waken from my state of near retirement to comment (once again) about the HIP's debacle. All conveyancers know that this whole business is a waste of time and money. It would have been easy to make provision for an Energy Rating Certificate for properties being sold and then perhaps link this to registration at the Land Registry in much the same way as SDLT forms i.e you cant register the transfer/mortgage without producing the ERC to the Land Registry.
We have had all the comment in the papers about Lenders not accepting personal searches which we knew all along. I have just received an email from a personal search company with a list of lenders who will accept personal searches. I have in the past researched this issue and have found some lenders who in their CML Handbook part 2 replies say in answer to the question "do you accept personal searches" , "yes but at your risk". One wonders why any lender would expect me to take a risk rather than opt for an official search.
It appears most Sellers will commission personal searches for their packs as it will be the cheaper option and we will then have to explain to our clients (the Buyers) the difference between personal and official searches and sometimes have to insist on new official searches as the lender will not accept personal searches.
One thing has become clearer and that is that most of my local estate agents want nothing to do with preparing or sourcing HIPS. They appear content to refer their clients to a local solicitor to get the HIP but I suspect that may not remain the case once they have to have the HIP before they can market the property as opposed to the transitionary arrangements at present in effect.
So the big question is "how many HIPS have I done up to the 28th August 2007". The answer, you may not be surprised to hear, is NONE. I did get an email from HIPAG a week or two ago who appeared very excited about doing a HIP or two but at that time they still hadn't done an unregistered HIP or a leasehold HIP. I suspect all will change with the inclusion of 3 bed properties next month.
I am geared up to package HIPs if a client wants me to do that but I suspect I will just order one through Richards Gray or similar (how weary is that!).
Dont know about you but new work is very slow at the moment.
6 comments:
Ah! So you're not sitting around the retirement home smelling of oranges and wee just yet!
Any worries, weary, that the big boys ( HBOS etc) will muscle in and grab your work at source by offering free HIPs and farming the conveyancing off to some far flung factory staffed by spotty drones ??
I would be worried but they do such a crap job that I am convinced that my clients will come back to me once they've learned their lesson !
Got any tales of horror about factory conveyancers ?
My favourite,told to me by another conveyancer,is of a factory that tried desperately to delay completion of their sale for a week as they had failed to syncronise their purchase to tie in! Apparently the "Team" involved had forgotten all about the purchase file! Red faces and brown pants all around!
Come on weary,dish the dirt...
pissedoffconveyancer
Dear Weary, I have really enjoyed reading all your comments but what I am really curious about is how you have stuck it for 38 years!
I set up as an SP 18 months ago and as much as I loved the job before, the last 18 months has been one constant battle - so much so that a checkout job at Tesco is really appealing at the moment (and probably better paid).
Between the admin, keeping referrers happy (which unfortunately these days we all have to get at least some of our work from!) complying with Money laundering regs etc.etc.etc.when are we supposed to have the time to do the actual conveyancing work????
The HIPS I feel will be the downfall for most SPs unless the really determined ones are willing to give up the 5 hours or so sleep they curently have to spending it on marketing their HIPS - a difficult task to promote something you dont believe in!
5/10 years ago I would have loved being an SP but in view of the regs.over the last 5 years or so it's made the job a nightmare.
Is everyone else as cheesed off with it all as me? I mean REALLY cheesed off!
How I envy your retirement !
Yours, "Wondering why I did it!"
In response to "pissedoffconveyancer" it appears that HIPS may have less of an effect on Conveyancing instructions than feared. It's not just factory conveyancers that are crap. I have a local firm with many branch offices who have a referral arrangement that produces large volumes and they just churn the work out by rote and let the PI insurance deal with the mistakes.
I sympathise with "wondering why I did it". My route to solepractice was as a pertner in a 5 office ten partner firm which first split in half and then my remaining partners negotiated a merger of their commercila practice leaving me in a branch office on my own. I found out after they had negotiated the deal. Although I am the sole owner I employ a full time solicitor, a part time solicitor (wills and probate) and a litigation Legal Executive. This means I can find the time to deal with all the regulatory crap and as the office has been open for 35 years we have a tremendous amount of goodwill/established clients.
I don't envy you , wondering ,setting up as a sole practictioner in the current climate. Everything seems to mitigate against SPs unless they are in a niche area.
I guess if I was a SP I'd specialise in say Leasehold enfranchisement work-none of the factories or crap firms want to touch it as they haven't got the expertise and the staff they employ wouldn't have a clue where to start.
But don't worry , wondering , there will always be work for good, proactive lawyers.
Don't get me on to referrers-especially estate agents who year on year seem to do less and less work for more and more money.
I would never pay them money to send me cases- I'd rather eat my own droppings.
pissedoffconveyancer-although now we're friends you can call me "pissed"....
Dear Weary, thanks for the extremely informative comments.I'm a student doing research on HIPS and was wondering if you could perhaps help clear up some confusion I have in my mind.
What does the future for non-compliant personal searches look like? Even though they are cheaper, I would imagine they would gradually disappear over time.
There seem to be numerous figures for the final price of a HIP. What is a representative figure for the price and cost of a HIP?
Given that initially there were going to be a lot of HIPS sold and now there's a phased in approach, would this in your opinion place any pricing pressure on HIPS providers?
Have you seen any increase in the number of HIPS being requested since september 10 after
application to 3 bedroom flats?
When in your opinion would HIPS be required for all purchases, especially since this has been
postponed a few times.
How do you see the future of the HIPS initiative?
Thank you in advance!
Nik
2uWd5b You have a talant! Write more!
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