What now for Home Information Packs?
After months of speculation, we finally have an election result. Whether it is the one that you were hoping for or not, it hopefully marks the beginning of the end of a period of uncertainty concerning the future of HIPs and allows us all to focus on making plans for our businesses going forward.
Both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats made manifesto commitments to abolish HIPs and this stance is reiterated in the Coalition Agreement published this week.
When this will happen, and what process this will follow, is not yet clear but I wanted to brief you all on the work Live has been doing behind the scenes in the run up to this, to ensure we have a solution tailored to your ongoing needs.
The detail of any legislative changes will become clearer over the next few weeks and I recognise that your own requirements for your business will be unique. We have a flexible and evolving product offering allowing you to choose a solution that fits your needs rather than a 'one size fits all' generic product.
New 'Homefile' product
Some Clients have expressed interest in a new marketing product to differentiate their service offering and at the same time provide a revenue opportunity to replace that lost by HIPs. I am pleased to confirm that Live are in the final stages of releasing this product and further details will follow shortly.
Energy Performance Certificates
EPCs as a standalone product will continue to be available through The Move Centre as now. You will continue to have the option to dictate where EPCs are panelled; either to a provider of your choice, your own offices or leave to Live to panel to the established panel of EPC providers. You will be able to set the retail price of these to suit your market. When and by whom EPCs will be ordered in the new world is not yet clear but we have the flexibility to cater for this.
Collection of payments
The option for Live to contact your vendors to collect a payment for either or both of the above products and rebate back to you any additional revenue you choose to take will still continue; I know that some Clients were particularly keen to ensure that this mechanism did not disappear with the abolition of HIPs as it offered flexibility ongoing for your own propositions.
Title Insurance
We have a new product in our stable that allows you to earn commission from First Title for Defective Title Insurance policies taken out by your conveyancing panel firms. First Title have recently been awarded The Law Society's endorsement as the preferred provider to the legal profession so this is a product that is in high demand by solicitors and licensed conveyancers.
This is not a definitive summary of what will be available over the coming months as the market evolves once again. We have further developments planned and I hope to be able to discuss these with you in more detail shortly.
These options will exist alongisde the referral of conveyanicng leads to provide a seamless customer journey for your Clients and ensure that conversion opportunities are maximised by building strong vendor relationships from the outset.
If this has prompted any further questions or you would like to discuss anything in more detail, please don't hesitate to contact me direct or Sarah Findlay on 07929 036446.