In the comparatively short time since HIPs were introduced I have already come across two serious flaws in the system.


Shortly after HIPs came out, I acted for a client in the purchase of a property. The seller's solicitor provided the HIP prepared by a HIP provider. This included a personal local authority search which stated that the road in which the house was situated was an adopted road. From my local knowledge I knew that this was not the case. I visited the property and found at the entrance to the road a sign which said 'private road - residents only'.



This introduced two serious issues. First, had I relied on the personal search, I would not have been able to warn the client about a contingent liability for road charges if the road were ever made up and adopted. Second, on checking the title, I found that there was no easement in the title documents for the use of the road. Fortunately, I was able to warn my client about the contingent road charges liability and I was able to persuade the seller's solicitors that their client should provide an absence of easement indemnity policy.



The second case was similar. I was acting for a client buying a property in Hemel Hempstead. The HIP included a personal local authority search stating that the road was adopted. Because I live about a mile from this property, I knew that it was an unadopted road which a visit soon confirmed. On making further investigations I discovered that not only was the road unadopted but part of it was common land. The same issues therefore had to be addressed with the client and the seller's solicitors relative to a contingent road charges liability and the provision of an absence of easement indemnity policy, which was more difficult than usual to obtain because of the common land involved.



My firm tends to be rather old-fashioned. We have always carried out 'official' searches with local authorities rather than using searching agents. While official searches are not infallible, they are in the main accurate and safe to rely upon. Therefore, when we prepare our HIPs for clients, we include proper searches and not the personal variety.



Michael W Green, Maffey & Brentnall, Watford