HIPs goes online
HIPs (Home Information Packs) – love them or hate them – are now an important part of the process of selling your home. It is a legal requirement to have a HIP and you can't market your property without one. The HIP lets buyers see important information about the property with less chance of any nasty surprises at the end of the purchase. HIPs are designed to reduce delays and extra expense to the buyer and seller.
There are strict regulations governing the process of putting a HIP together (see http://www.direct.gov.uk). One of the important pieces of documentation that has to be supplied is the Property Information Questionnaire (PIQ) that has to be completed by the owner of the property.
The Property Information Questionnaire provides buyers with a checklist of simple information about a property to help them decide whether to view a property or to make an offer.
The PIQ includes:
- gas and electricity safety information
- flood risk information
- details of previous structural damage
- information about parking arrangements
- leasehold summary
The property owner completes the PIQ and provides, to the best of their knowledge, truthful and accurate answers. There are two types of questionnaire: one for newly built properties and another for all other types of property.
The questionnaires are either provided to property owners as a hard copy or are available as downloadable PDFs that have to be printed out and completed.
CBA Design & Marketing have now built an online version of the form that will allow users to complete and return the form quicker than previously. The online version conforms to all of the strict guidelines and, when completed, is delivered to the organisation/individual who is compiling the HIP as an Acrobat PDF.
This form can be used by any organisation or individual that is actively engaged in the preparation of HIPs. The form can be customised to include branding and can either be added into an existing website or can reside under a unique domain name that property owners can be directed to. For anyone who has an interest in HIPs, this online solution can prove to be extremely beneficial.
One of the first companies to take advantage of this form is the regional office of the Property Search Group (PSG). PSG is the market leading national property search provider who last year commissioned over 1/3 million property searches. The Property Search Group provide a comprehensive range of services including Personal Local Authority Searches, Environmental Reports, Coal Mining Reports, Drainage Reports and Title Indemnities.
The PIQ for the Property Search Group resides under its own domain name www.psgeast.co.uk and has already proved to be extremely useful, improving productivity and enabling the requisite searches to be completed much quicker than previously.