Tuesday 24th June 2008

23 Jun 2008

Breaking News

AHIPP challenges local authorities over HIPs

The Association of Home Information Pack Providers (AHIPP) has challenged local authorities to sort out their handling of home information packs (HIPs) or face the consequences in due course.

HIPs are presently subject to temporary measures put in the place by the Government that are scheduled to expire at the end of the year. One of these measures allows private sector search companies to use insurance to cover risks to consumers where local authorities withhold information from them to compile full searches.

The body said that should this arrangement expire at the end of the year, local authorities would find themselves subject to massive pressure and negative publicity if they were not in a position to provide access to the information that private search companies needed to do their job.

Mike Ockenden, director general of AHIPP, said while it was important to acknowledge that there were some excellent authorities that did not restrict access to the information that they maintained, they were in the minority.

He explained: Some 75% of all authorities do not provide access in accordance with the Government’s own guidelines and the clock is ticking with only six months to go to the end of the year. I will be writing to the chief executives of those authorities to provide a clear challenge to sort this unacceptable situation out.

Courtesy of Mortgage Solutions

Friday 20th June 2008

Retention of Hips advocated

There is no good reason to scrap the home information packs (Hips) scheme now that so much time and money has been spent setting it up, a conveyancer has suggested.

Managing director of conveyancing firm Convex.net Duncan Samuel said he did not agree with the recommendation in the Carsberg report this week that Hips had been of no benefit and should be made voluntary.

Ratehr, he suggested, while the industry had warned the government that the benefits would be few, some "marginal" advantages were apparent.
On the time taken to sell homes since Hips was introduced, he stated: "Last year our average time from receipt of contract papers to completion was
43 days and this year it has been 38, so there has been an improvement of five days in our experience."

For reasons like this it was worth persisting with Hips rather than scrapping it and declaring all the time and money spent setting up the system to be wasted.

The deputy director general of The Association of Home Information Pack Providers Paul Broadhead claimed this week that research had shown Hips to be speeding up the selling process by an average of 12 days.

The above story is copyright Adfero Ltd(News Agency) and is taken from Knight Frank.com

Thursday 19th June 2008

Yorkshire v Lancashire Twenty20

Wednesday evening proved to live up to all expectations. The game was miraculously on, even though the rain came and went and then came again. Lancashire recorded a respectable 150 and early on Yorkshire appeared to be cruising to victory. However as the wickets started to fall, we all kept looking over as the Duckworth Lewis rule began to hinder the Yorkshire team, due to the persistence of the black clouds and poor light. As usual it was left to Yorkshires finest, Darren Gough to win the match with 2 balls to spare, with an unbeaten knock of 20. A great time was had by all including Coubrough & Co who won the tightest pants award. Congratulations Ryan Sugden!!

Monday 16th June 2008

Corporate Rugby League Evening

On Friday 15th August we will once again be entertaining as Leeds Rhinos take on local rivals Castleford Tigers at Headingley. Leeds will be looking to overturn the loss suffered at the Jungle earlier on in the campaign.

Wednesday 11th June 2008

Government news releases

8 May 2008: Announcement

Minister of State Caroline Flint today made a statement to the House of Commons on the implementation of Home Information Packs. Read a copy of today's press release on the page above and a copy of the statement here.

The Code for Sustainable Homes. 1 May 2008. From 1 May 2008 it is compulsory for every new home in England to have a rating against the Code for Sustainable Homes and for information on this rating to be provided to prospective purchasers through the HIP. The Code applies to new build homes only.

For more information go to www.communities.gov.uk/thecode

Tuesday 10th June 2008

Corporate Cricket Evening

On the 18th June Fusion will be taking customers out to the eagerly anticipated Twenty20 match between Yorkshire and Lancashire at Headingley. This entertaining spectacle between the two old enemies promises to be a real fire cracker!

Wednesday 05th June 2008

We go Live!

We are delighted to announce today the launch of our new Fusion HIPs website. We firmly believe this will add value to our growing reputation and provide a useful tool for both existing and new customers.