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Two thirds of the public interviewed haven't heard of Home Information Packs, according to a new study carried out by ICM. And only one in three of those who have heard of HIPs realise that HIPS will contain legal documents such as the title documents and local searches.
This latest study by ICM dramatically underlines what we have been telling the property and legal industries for two years, says Rob Hailstone, CEO of HIP provider Hipag Services. The introduction of HIPs will mean the biggest shakeup that the property market has ever known. Yet very few local estate agents or high street solicitors are yet fully prepared.
The ICM study found that trustworthiness is the most important factor in choosing a HIP provider. Fifty-seven per cent of respondents said they would be most likely to trust a solicitor to prepare the pack, and 70 per cent said they would rely on their solicitor to interpret the information contained in the HIP.
This finding is clearly good news for the legal profession, says Rob Hailstone, but I wonder how many high street solicitor practices have yet realised that the entry of big corporate players such as supermarket chain Asda into the HIP market will mean more and more conveyancing factories, and fewer and fewer locally prepared HIPs?
The reason for Hipag's existence is to encourage independent estate agents and high street solicitors to work with Hipag to produce trustworthy HIPs rapidly by making full use of local knowledge in order to get to exchange of contracts faster.
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