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Packs, will they
provesuccessful?
As I approach forty years in
the legal profession having
specialised in Property, Wills
and Probate I have seen
successive
Governments
anguish over the process
under which conveyancing is
undertaken in England and
Wales.
Many attempts have been made to
improve the system with emphasis
on expedience and efficiency. Now
for the first time legislation is to be
set down to legally require a seller to
produce a Home lnformation Pack.
The idea is to save time in the
accumulation
of
precontract
information and clearance of
16
Photo - Terence Willey
Searches and pre-contract enquiries
currently being undertaken within
the legal process and all of which
takes time as lawyers await the
results of the same and co-operation
from third parties. I have always
favoured the idea of a “log book
in respect of the sale of a property
providing as much information to
the buyer at the outset as is possible.
There will be obvious costs
in collating and providing this
information and obviously this is
where modern technology involving
recourse to computer generated
“direct line” information from
all service providers will prove
invaluable. Over the last few years
Governmental Departments and
Local Authorities has invested in
this technology effectively meaning
that Local Search information can
be acquired in hours rather than
weeks and H. M. Land Registry have
heavily invested in the registration
process of land and property and all
registered land Title information can
be again obtained instantly on line.
Such access is in the public domain
and therefore can be accessed by
everyone.
In June 2007 Home Information
Packs will become “law” and it will
not be possible to sell any domestic
property without providing such
Home Information Pack. The Pack is
to include a Home Inspectors Report
and Surveyors will be encouraged to
similarly link in on Line for these to
be obtained.
Already there are many firms
and agencies investing millions
of pounds in the technology
and advertising to condition the
consumer client to purchase their
Home Information Packs directly
on line or by application for a hard
written copy the costs of which it
is believed will be in the region of
£500.00 to £1,000.00. I anticipate
the direct packaging in this way to
be highly competitive and in some
instances links made with Estate
Agents for the cost to be embodied
within the Agents fee at the end
of the day. This packaging in my
view does not offer the consumer
client the best of protection as I
still, and will always maintain that
the buying and selling of a home
remains one of the most important
transactions that an individual has
to undertake in a lifetime and by
its very nature requires the best of
personal service, good advice and
moreover personal contact. I do not
therefore believe that the lawyer
will be redundant in this process as
some commentators have forecast
and it is imperative in my view that
as soon as a client anticipates his or
her sale of a property that the first
“port of call