To Everyone,
My apologies if this blog looks very amature. This is my first attempt and I'm not very computer literate. However I felt compelled to let the public know what i have found out, because this could save you all alot of money.
My house has just been put on the market for sale and the estate agent informed me that i had to have a HIP or Home Information Pack before i could market my property. From 14th December 2007 all domestic properties must have a HIP. Basically this report measures the efficiency of your home and gives it a rating from A-G. It also gives low cost measures to improve your rating and so make it more attractive to potential buyers.
Any way, the main point i wanted to make is that the estate agent quoted me a price of £395+ vat to complete the HIP Report. Which i thought was expensive. When i questioned them further they told me that they don't actually perform the HIP. They gave the job to a specialized company. Alarm bells were ringing, and further investigation confirmed that they were adding a commission on for themselves.
So my advice to everyone out there is to purchase your own HIP. Dont get it through the estate agent as the vast majority can add there own commission.I spent hours looking at Home Pack Providers throughout the UK.Some of them were overpriced, some had very bad customer service not returning calls etc, some could just not be bothered. However I did find a company that ticked all the boxes, friendly service, good price, fast turn around. I would certainly reccomend the services of www.dea4you.co.uk (Domestic Energy Assessors). They cover mainly Merseyside and Lancashire and are just going National.They did the full HIP for £275+ vat. Thats £125 cheaper than going through the estate agents.I did find some HIP providers slightly cheaper, but to be honest i'm glad i paid a little extra with www.dea4you.co.uk to get a good, fast service. Nothing was to much trouble for them.
So anybody out there selling their property, get your own HIP. Dont get ripped off!.
Hope this helps,
Regards,
Bob.