Price information about home information packs
A small-scale survey of estate agencies across the country has found that the cost of compiling a Home information pack (Hip), which is a compulsory part of the sale of a house, can vary from £234 to over £500 - not just from town to town, but between agencies within the same town.
Some estate agents charge a fixed fee for the Hip - no matter if the property is a small flat or a large mansion, and others have sliding scales of charges dependent upon the property asking price.
Nick Cheek, assistant editor of Which? magazine, said: "It's also something of a lottery on how much you're actually going to pay for one of these, as, well, there's no standardised payment.
"One of the key things is actually looking towards the Scottish model, where, in December 2008, they're going to be introducing their own Hips, called Scottish Home Reports. These will include not only what's included in the English Hip, which is the energy performance certificate, but they'll also include a survey which is really what we'd like to see. Which I think would make Home information packs much more useful than they are now."
The Which? magazine survey also discovered that buyers are having to request the Hips from the estate agents, rather than being offered them with the details of the property.
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