Pack Provider's early Successes
Peter Ambrose at The Partnership tells us about the Packs
Pack provider The Partnership was formed in August 2004, and registered as one of the first early adopters. Director Peter Ambrose, tells us about his organisations' involvement with HIPs.
"Once it became clear that Home Information packs were to become a reality, we registered as an early adopter HIP provider with the government's programme.
We engaged in a testing phase from November 2005 with a number of agents -and during the past 18 months we've expanded our trial to a much broader area to engage with more estate agents. We experienced a certain level of reluctance from some estate agents at first - but as time's gone on, most agents that we've been working with have begun to realise the value of HIPs and how they can be used as a valuable selling tool.
To date, we've compiled about 25 Packs (independent of the Area Trials) and tried to remain focussed on testing some of the possibly tricky issues that we think may arise when putting a Pack together. For example, we've undertaken HIPs for a 17th Century thatched farmhouse, a leasehold property, and an unregistered property - all to give us experience in dealing with less common properties.
...We've seen a growing number of estate agents getting on board - with some particularly positive feedback.
In one instance, a Home Condition Report we commissioned showed up a number of problems with the property. However, the seller opted to fix those problems and improve the saleability. In another instance, the Home Condition Report and the transparency that it provided, really proved to be a key differentiator in closing the sale.
Feedback has suggested that sellers have also found the recommendations of Energy Performance Certificates to be particularly useful, and the findings have the potential to be a useful negotiating tool for a buyer.
The Home Information Pack is not only useful information for buyers and sellers - it is the information that the industry has been asking for, for years. We're confident that the more people use Packs the more they'll understand the benefits of them, the advantage they bring as a sales tool - and we truly believe that they will help to speed up the sale process."
