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The British government are making it easier to buy and sell homes in England and Wales. The introduction of the Property Information Questionnaire (PIQ) is another step to making it easier to buy and sell in the UK with or without an agent. The introduction of the PIQ takes account of the increasing demand from sellers to sell their homes without an estate agent

About Property Information Questionnaire (PIQ)

On 8 December 2008, the Minister for Housing, Margaret Beckett, announced proposals to improve and simplify the consumer content of the Home Information Pack (HIP).The Property Information Questionnaire (PIQ) has been designed to be easy for sellers to complete without professional help and will provide buyers with basic, useful information about a property that will help to inform their decision to view a property or make an offer.

From April 6th 2009, those involved in selling homes need to be aware that there are some important changes that you need to know about. Estate agents and other property professionals will need to understand them to be able to advise sellers and potential buyers.

Property Information Questionnaires will be a compulsory document for inclusion in the Home Information Pack. The PIQ is designed to be completed by a seller, providing simple, useful information about a property. This can help to inform prospective buyers’ decisions about whether to view, or make an offer on a particular property.Every property search in a HIP must now contain all the required search information.

These changes are being introduced to Home Information Packs so that better information is available at the beginning of the home buying and selling process, and before buyers incur costs. Informed choice by buyers at the start can help reduce delays later on and wasted time for sellers. So what information does the questionnaire give a buyer? The buyer will see at glance information regarding the home from when the property was purchased to what modifications it has undertaken.

Speeding up the Buying and Selling Process

The UK governments aim to inform the buyer and to make the process quicker resulted in Home Information Packs or HIPs. The HIP is a package of information which must be assembled by a vendor [or an estate agent] prior to marketing a residential property. The documents that have to be included in a HIP from the first day a property is marketed include: a Sales Statement evidence of title Energy Performance Certificate.

Whilst these documents have to be in place before the property can be marketed there are others that must be obtained within 28 days so that the vendor or estate agent can demonstrate that the HIP is compliant. Additional items are:

Local authority Search [including Land Charges, Planning and Highways] Water and Drainage Search copies of any Leases or Licences to which the property is subject.

In all it seems that buying and selling a house in the UK is set to become quicker and easier. I predict that like in the USA where For Sale By Owner is a recognised method of putting a property to market, so to will the UK as governments make the process easier for all

2008 was a rollercoaster of a year for the UK’s property market. SecureASale Director Tim Jackson looks back on the ups and downs of London’s housing sector over the past yearâ?¦2008 started slowly with the hangover for the manic record market of â??07. By the end of 2008, the UK was in the worst housing slump since the 1930s. There are three main factors that have contributed to this heady downward spiral.1 / Cyclical economic slowdownAfter 15 years of non-stop growth, the UK economy had overheated and house price inflation had far-outpaced rises in average earnings. The average home was costing 7 times average earnings, which was unsustainable. A policy of low interest rates had led to the availability of cheap credit and properties had seemed affordable despite the ever-increasing prices. However, nervous of inflation running rampant, the Bank of England MPC gradually raised interest rates up to 5.75% in July 2007. This hit highly-leveraged borrowers hard, especially those on interest only mortgages and had the desired effect of substantially cooling the housing market. 2 / Worldwide banking crisisWhen Northern Rock collapsed in the summer of 2007, it wasnâ??t a one-off event but was linked to the fallout from the sub-prime market both here and in the United States. Banks worldwide had gambled by lending to un-creditworthy customers who were left unable to afford their loans and therefore defaulted on them, often literally handing back their keys to the lender. As Northern Rock had grown its business by taking on risky debt, it soon found itself unable to secure funding to operate and the government had no choice but to bail it out. The banks then all took note of this and substantially tightened their lending criteria. In a matter of weeks, the days of 100% mortgages were gone and loan to value ratios were cut dramatically.3 / Lending haltThis alone would be enough to cause a housing crash, but on top of this the banks stopped lending to each- other almost completely. This credit crunch affected the entire economy from small businesses to the largest industrials and we are now seeing the rising unemployment and reduced spending that a shrinking economy causes.The result of this unhappy alliance of bleak news is that buyers couldnâ??t borrow money to fund their moves, vendors couldnâ??t afford to take lower offers on their homes as that often dragged them into negative equity and thousands of builders, estate agents and mortgage advisors went bust as business dried up.The lettings market has been hit too as thousands of homeowners, unable to Sell House Quickly but needing to move have found themselves having to let their properties out, in effect becoming reluctant landlords and massively increasing supply. The result of this is that cash for houses have been dragged down in the rental sector and many buy to let investors are finding that their rents no longer cover their costs and their investments are repossessed by the bank, further damaging the market.Is there a way out of this crisis?The only route back to stability is for the banks to begin normal lending again both to each other and to homebuyers. Without this the market is in for an even worse 2009. Only time will tell.

Now that the foreclosure epidemic is in full swing, it is not just home owners who are getting slapped in the face. Hundreds of tenants renting homes across the nation are being evicted and forced to move with little or short notice from the banks.
The renters have no idea the homes they are living in are in preforeclosure status and are scheduled to soon be sold at public auction. The renters only find out when they come home to a notice posted on the front door stating they have 30 days to move or be forced to leave the house.
It all started when investors purchased houses as investments speculating they would go up in the near future. They purchased high end homes with larger price tags so they could make more money in a shorter amount of time. After all when housing prices go up by 10% you are much better off to having a $500,000 house than a $100,000 house.
Now many of those so called easy money real estate investments are falling into foreclosure and the banks are the ones evicting the tenants. Many tenants are in long term lease agreements and have been paying their bills on time for months. They also put down large sums of money as a rental deposit for the home they have been living in.
I see this scenario on a weekly basis. Once the home owner or investor knows they can not afford the mortgage they keep collecting the rent checks but dont pay the mortgage and pocket the money. I do not think this is ethical and the investors are at fault for not being honest with the tenants. The problem is, the rental agreement has no information about what happens if the home goes into foreclosure while the tenants are living in it.
Most investors who leave their tenants hanging are not full time professional investors. They are people who jumped on the real estate, get rich quick band wagon hopping to make a quick profit. Professional real estate investors would not do this because they can not afford to have their reputation tarnished by such acts. They rely on reputation and referrals for business which is how they feed their family.
So the questions is,
Do you think the real estate investors or land lords are responsible for loss damages paid to the renter? After all moving your family in less than 30 days can be very hectic and these renters are also out their deposit. Is it ethical to have real estate investors making a profit off of renter and keep collecting the rent even when they know the renter will be evicted.

As property prices fall, those will ready cash available could make themselves a fortune in the long-run by investing in property now. LONDON, UK- London property specialists at SecureASale, the capitalâ??s premier â??sell my houseâ?? and quick sale experts, are issuing some exciting investment advice.SecureASale director, Tim Jackson has announced that the best investments available in the current climate are to be found within the London property market. He issued the following statement:”With interest rates falling to 0.5% and property prices still falling, snapping up a good quality buy to let in London can easily return 7-8% per annum â?? 14-16 times the Bank of England interest rate. It is a tangible investment and unlike what we have seen with the banks, you know where your money is invested with property. Time and time again, the property market has proved its ability to bounce back even stronger and in the future people looking to sell property will receive the dividends.Obviously, at times like these people are asking â??OK, but how can I sell my house quickly to raise the capital for such a venture?â?? This is where quick sale experts such as Tim Jackson and SecureASale.Very high yields, like weâ??re seeing now are normally a sign of an undervalued market, so there is scope for optimism that we have reached the bottom of the housing market.”However, Jackson has also issued a stark warning to potential investors. As incomes fall and people lose their jobs in the recession, rent costs are likely to fall as well, as is the chance of a quick sale or obtaining the maximum revenue when selling a house. Jackson adds, “We are not going to see a new bubble forming any time soon and we may not be out of the woods yet in terms of negative capital returns.”There is always a point during a property boom where people turn to each other and say, â??If only Iâ??d bought back in Year X I could have made a fortune. The quick sale property experts agree that now could be that time.