X-Press Legal Services
Life After HiPs
On the 20th May, Grant Shapps Housing Minister, announced the requirement for homeowners to provide a HiP when selling their house was to be suspended with immediate effect.
As a result of this change in legislation the country is now entering a correction period where we will see Solicitors and Licenced Conveyancers reclaiming their position as the central focus for the Conveyancing process.
X-Press Legal Services has for many years been at the forefront of Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) and access to data which has culminated in all but eliminating the argument of Council Searches over Personals.
Christian Lister our Operations Director and Chairman of IPSA (Institute of Personal Search Association) has championed this process through the various UK government departments and most of the European Union as well, becoming a key speaker on these matters in the process.
Last week the Law Society rang Christian for an assurance that post HiPs the level of data contained in our search reports would remain, and we would not revert back to an insurance position. This will be a position driven by the market and although there maybe an argument that insurance is the easier option when dealing with some council delays and unrealistic cost for information. Fighting councils is nearly always an expensive and often a bruising experience but the work we have done so far using EIR is an important one and one that delivers to the end user a quality product at a realistic cost. Something that X-Press Legal Services believes is worth fighting for.
As far as X-Press Legal Services is concerned there will not be a backward step in the provision of quality data provided, actually the opposite is true and we shall continue to build on the superb work that has already been accomplished.
X-Press Legal Services have never been a HiP provider and therefore never marketed against Solicitors or Licenced Conveyancers, choosing instead to talk to and advise practices on ways to gain or maintain their market share in the face of predatory competition.
