Clarke and Son News

The Government have again moved the goal posts on Home Information Packs (HIPs).

Properties marketed before the 1st of June launch will now have until March 2008 before they require a Home Information Pack, the original deadline was October 2007.

Other changes will allow sellers to market their property as soon as the Energy Performance Certificate and key legal documents are provided as long as searches and leasehold documents have been commissioned.

Previously, Home Information Packs had to contain local searches before the property could go on the market and for leasehold properties they were required to contain leasehold documents.

Further changes allow Properties that are withdrawn from the market to use the original HIP if re-marketed by the same seller within a year of the original Hip date.

Estate agents must also include energy performance certificates with their property particulars for the first time. The Government says this would help buyers make green choices by comparing energy costs between homes.

If you have any enquiries regarding Home Information Packs please contact Paul Cowdery, Peter Brown, Jenny Axe or Katie Baldwin at Clarke & Son.

Estate agents yesterday called on the public to help get rid of Home Information Packs (Hips), which every seller will have to have before a property is marketed for sale. The packs are due to come into effect on 1st June 2007 and are likely to cost £300-£400 each, but an e-petition launched by the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) against HIPs received an overwhelming response and attracted more than 2,500 signatures just 24 hours after being announced.

With a large number of estate agents uncommitted to the Hips ethos, the NAEA is now asking the general public to give their backing to the petition.  The e-petition, registered on the 10 Downing Street website, urges the Government to accept the NAEA’s concerns about the HIP legislation and the likely effect on the housing market and the economy.

The association calls for the relevant section of the Housing Act to be repealed and asks the Government to discuss more relevant ways of improving the house buying and selling process.

Peter Bolton King, chief executive of the association, said,

"Ultimately, we are all working towards the same goal - the improvement of the home buying and selling process.  "The Government’s current plans for HIPs however will not achieve this. Problems with the proposals as they stand have been apparent for some time now. Concerns are shared by a number of other respected bodies, including The Law Society, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, and the Council of Mortgage Lenders and yet the Government is intent on not listening to the sound advice on offer."

The NAEA’s concerns over the HIP plans are that the lack of ability to market a property without an HIP will reduce the supply of houses available. This in turn will lead to higher prices, it said.  The association said there was evidence that the Land Registry’s e-conveyancing proposals would speed up the home buying and selling process, making HIPs redundant in this area.  And it added that energy performance certificates are the only part that will add value and can easily be dealt with outside HIPs, while the voluntary nature of the Home Condition Report will create an uneven playing field in the market.

Paul Cowdery, Conveyancing Partner at Clarke & Son commented:

"Solicitors and the Law Society have for some time made known to the Government our concerns regarding the operation of Home Information Packs and specifically if they will actually bring any benefit to the process of buying and selling a home.  There are some benefits to the legal process but we find that in practice delays mainly occur due to availability of mortgage funding, survey issues and the problems associated with transactions where there is a chain.  At this stage, our preparations are well advanced to ensure we can supply Home Information Packs to our clients under the Regulations as they stand."

We have also created a page on our website with answers to questions regarding Home Information Packs.

Lisa Griffin and Angie Doyle from Clarke & Sons solicitors, visited Treloars School on Friday 12 January 2007.

Back in December 2006, Lisa attended a Christmas party at Elvetham Park Hotel where the school had a stand running a competition to guess the total price of three items the children use to make their lives more comfortable. Lisa’s was the closest guess and she won a bottle of champagne!  The school then invited her to visit them and collect her prize.

Treloars in Alton provides education, therapy, care and independence training for young people with disabilities. Lisa and Angie went for a tour of the school and participated in part of a Year 10 English lesson about persuasive writing. The children were discussing whether they were for or against testing on animals.

They were very friendly and welcoming to their visitors and everyone had an enjoyable day.

Mark Clancy, Joint Senior Partner at London Clancy gives his preview of the 2007 Commercial Property Market in the M3/M27 Corridor.

2007 is set to continue the positive market of the last 12 months with the performance of the commercial property sector in our region being underpinned by sustained investor demand and increasing occupier activity.

General capital and rental growth is forecast to show total returns that will once more outstrip most other types of investment. The seemingly insatiable demand for well let property will have additional avenues of investment available through the new Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs).

Occupier demand should steadily improve during 2007 reflecting growing business confidence and an ongoing background of relative economic stability.

The overall market conditions will sustain commercial property development activity, albeit set against strong residential competition on Brownfield sites and despite the best efforts of Natural England and its Special Protection Area controls in the north of our region. Mixed use development will still be the order of the day in town centre locations.

The office market is set to be the best performer in our region in 2007 as occupier demand increases, particularly from the service and technology sectors, and the available stock reduces. The industrial/warehousing market will continue to perform well with the ongoing shortage of sites and the lack of new supply pushing rental values up.  The retail and leisure market across the M3/M27 corridors has seen significant investment in recent years and this will be maintained in 2007.

In summary, 2007 will be a year of ongoing strong investor demand, increasing occupier confidence and improving rental values, generally creating a buoyant market for the next 12 months. However, beware a slower market in 2008 as the further predicted increases in interest rates start to impact.

From 1 June 2007, people wishing to sell their property will be required to produce a Home Information Pack (HIP). This pack will contain all of the information required on a property sale up-front.

Clarke & Son is well aware of the implications of a HIP and are devising systems to help reduce the impact this will have.

HIP trials are due to start within the M4 corridor on 12 February 2007. The firm is currently running informal seminars to help local estate agents get to grips with this new legislation.

Future dates planned include the 31 January and 1 February at Clarke & Son’s offices in Basingstoke.

For further details please email our Residential Conveyancing Partner, Paul Cowdery

This week the UK caught up with their European
counterparts when the DTI announced UK workers’ rights to a minimum
holiday entitlement under the Working Time Regulation 1998 from 20 days
to 28 days per annum - (Retail Bulletin)

The proposal could mean an extra eight days leave
a year for some employees, but it will be up to the employer to decide whether those days
are the bank holidays or not.

Employment Law Services For Companies from Clarke & Son

A landmark employment appeal decision has the potential to provide new protection for millions of the UK’s working carers, reports Personnel Today, after Sharon Coleman won the right for an unfair treatment claim against her employer to proceed to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) later this year.

This landmark disability ruling could pave the way for extended protection for working carers across the UK and Europe.

Personnel Today reports today that the Department of Trade and Industry is cracking down on employers that fail to pay minimum wage, with offending companies facing increased fines.

"The adult minimum wage increased to £5.35 per hour last October, which has benefited more than a million people. But last year, more than 1,500 employers were exposed for not paying the minimum wage to more than 25,000 workers."

Companies which refuse to comply will face a financial penalty after seven days - regardless of the reason for the infringement with the amount varying depending on the size of the workforce.

A new study published by CDMS claims that 31% of the top companies in the UK are failing to comply with EU directives on Privacy and Electronic Communications, reports E-Consultancy.

Under the directive, companies must only send emails to
non-customers if they have actively opted in to receive them.

With electronic marketing techniques such as e-mail marketing becoming more and more widespread for businesses to send sales messages, companies must ensure that they comply.

Although a new area for legal debate, privacy on the internet has become a very big issue for companies and individuals facing problems with SPAM (unsolicited bulk e-mail).