UK Property Blog by HIP-Consultant.co.uk

Home Information Packs (HIP) are becoming more widely accepted since the first date of implementation. However, with the Home Information Pack’s existence also comes some fallacies and myths which have been attached to them. Due to this we have decided to look at a selection of some commonly held misconceptions and some of the more unusual ones we have come across.

1. HIP stands for and is an abbreviation for Home Improvement Pack.

This a common mistake many make and one can certainly be forgiven for holding this belief. This error was recently made by the Communities and Local Government (CLG) when publishing a guidance document on Home Information Packs within their website. It has since been rectified.

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The final part of our Property Purchase Completion Guide we take a looka what happens when things dont go as planned.

Completions that don’t happen on the day

There are occasions when, for a number of reasons, completion does not happen on the day. Obviously this can cause serious difficulties however there are a few things that you can do to help mitigate these difficulties and any financial losses:

• Make sure you are available to speak to your lawyer and to the selling agents at all times. Find out what time your lawyer will be finishing for the day and see if there will be anyone staying later who could deal with any last minute issues

• If you are also selling a property do not hand the keys to your purchaser or allow them to move their belongings in unless your lawyer has advised you to do so

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The property completion proceedings are further discussed in Part 2 of of our guide; including some of the obstacles that you may encounter when buying your next home.

Events on the day of completion

In the normal course the completion monies will be sent by your lawyer early on the day of completion to the account of the seller’s lawyer. If you are also selling a property then your lawyer will need to receive the funds from your purchaser’s lawyer first which obviously means the monies would be transferred to your seller’s lawyer later in the day.

Your property purchase is considered completed when the seller’s lawyer receives the completion monies and when the seller vacates the property. As the lawyers cannot control what time the funds will reach their destinations there is no guarantee as to what time completion will take place. However, generally  it will be around lunchtime.

The contract will incorporate a latest time for completion. This will either be as per the standard conditions of sale, in which it will be 2pm, or it may be varied. It is very rare that it will be later than 2pm but it is quite common for it to be earlier, perhaps 1pm or even as early as 12. If the matter has not completed by this latest time then the party who has caused the delay in breach of the contract (see below).

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Property completion is the day that you get the keys to your new property and that the money is paid over to the seller’s lawyer. The date will have been agreed between you and the home seller prior to exchange of contracts and will be a fixed date on which both you and the property seller are contractually bound to complete. Over the next week we will be publishing our 3 part guide to Property Completion.

Agreeing a completion date

Before your lawyer exchanges the contract you will be asked for a completion date. There will usually be at least one week between exchange and completion to allow time for the mortgage funds to be ordered from your lender and final searches to be completed (though this can often be done quicker if required) and it must be a weekday but other than that you and your seller are free to agree a date that suits you both.

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Choosing the right lawyer can be an important decision when buying and selling a property. It is said that buying a house is the 3rd most stressful thing most of us will ever do and if you don’t have confidence in your representation it can be made all the worse. There are a few points to consider which might help you make the right decision and these are covered below.

Solicitor or Licensed Conveyancer?

When instructing a lawyer to deal with a house sale or purchase you can choose either a solicitor or a licensed conveyancer. The latter deals exclusively with conveyancing and so will probably have the more streamlined procedures which in turn could facilitate a speedier transaction. Many solicitor’s firms however have specialist conveyancing departments and they often have the advantage of being able to provide you with advice on other areas of law such as wills and disputes resulting in litigation. That said, solicitors that do not specialise in conveyancing may not be as quick and are likely to be more expensive.

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In part 2 of our property conveyancing guide we look at what is involved in the closing stages of the home buying and selling process. You may wish to read Part 1 of the Property Conveyancing Guide here.

Signing the contract

Once your lawyer is satisfied that all of his enquiries have been dealt with; he has seen satisfactory search results and he is in possession of his copy of the formal offer of mortgage you will be invited to sign the contract and various other papers. This will either be in person or through the post. You should also receive a report, often called a “property report” at this stage which will set out any salient points arising from the searches and enquiries.

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What is “conveyancing”? - Simply, it is the legal process of transferring ownership of land and property.

Instructing a lawyer

Once you have decided on a property, made an offer and had that offer accepted it’s time to instruct a lawyer. This can be either a solicitor or a licensed conveyancer. You should try not to pay over the odds for conveyancing work. When obtaining a quote you should be given a fixed fee but ask for a list of any additional fees charged for different aspects of the transaction.

Some firms might charge an extra fee for completing the SDLT1 form for example, even though this will not need to be done in every case. These additional fees can really push up the final bill. An average bill for professional fees only (i.e not including addtional search fees, land registry fees etc) would probably be around £300-£400 at the moment.

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