AHIPP reports website for its 'chat over the garden fence' feature

The Association of Home Information Pack Providers is calling on the Government to take immediate action against property website Zoopla.

AHIPP claims Zoopla is flouting the law by allowing sellers to market their homes without the required HIP in place. Zoopla says it is merely letting home-owners talk about a potential hypothetical price of their home, as people might do over the garden fence.

The website has a ‘TemptMe!’ feature allowing users to put in a price at which they might be interested in selling their home. A near identical feature, property flirt, exists on Mouseprice, although this site is not being reported.

Some agents have told Estate Agent Today that they find the features potentially useful, as a source of leads.

Alex Chesterman, Zoopla’s chief executive, said that when this issue first emerged, he issued this statement: “TemptMe! is an innovative community feature that allows inactive property owners to share the hypothetical price at which they might consider selling – their ‘dream price’ in effect.

“TemptMe! is no different really to a casual conversation between neighbours over the fence or between friends in the pub indicating the figure that might ‘tempt’ them – a conversation we have all probably had at some point.

“TemptMe! is targeted at owners who might be thinking about selling at some point in the future and allows them to test the waters. The requirement for a HIP begins once the owner has decided that they actually want to market a property for sale, not when they start thinking about the fact they might sell and the price they would be keen achieve one day.”

However, said Chesterman, since this, AHIPP “has come back to say that conversations ‘in a pub’ and ‘over the garden fence’ constitute public marketing”.

He went on: “Our reply to this is that a hypothetical conversation about how much you would potentially sell your house for is not a form of marketing – it’s a hypothetical conversation.

“The notion that every homeowner who has a conversation about the sale value of their home needs a HIP to do so or faces a £200 fine is farcical.

“Zoopla’s TemptMe! feature clearly states that homeowners will need a HIP if they do decide to sell their home.”

But AHIPP remains adamant that Zoopla is breaking new HIP rules which came into effect on April 6 requiring a HIP to be in place before marketing begins.

AHIPP said that Zoopla was allowing sellers to test the market with a ‘test price’ before officially deciding to sell, in direct contravention of the new HIP legislation. Mike Ockenden, director general of AHIPP, said: “We are not pursuing Mouseprice because the specific complaint we have had from one of our members is against Zoopla.

“The point is that it need not even cost someone to put a HIP in place before any marketing starts – there are now ‘no sale, no fee’ products with nothing to pay up-front.

“The estate agent community is required to adhere to this new legislation, facing fines of up to £200 per day if they fail to comply. It is unfair and unjust if Zoopla are not subject to these same rules.

“If a seller is offering their property for sale then this is clear marketing, and as a result they must comply with the new legislation. It is clear to me that Zoopla are behaving very irresponsibly. They are breaking the law and this practice has to stop immediately.”

He cited the Housing Act 2004, Part Five, Home Information Packs, which states: “A residential property is put on the market when the fact that it is or may become available for sale is, with the intention of marketing the property, first made public in England and Wales by or on behalf of the seller.”

The TemptMe! feature on Zoopla alerts users to the fact that they will need a HIP if they do decide to sell their home.

The warning reads: “Note: A TemptMe! Price should only be set if you are NOT actively marketing your home for sale. If you decide at any time to sell your home, you will require a Home Information Pack (HIP).”