HIPs

What’s in a Home Information Pack?

A HIP includes documents that are required when homes are bought and sold. Some documents are mandatory and others optional.

The mandatory documents are:

• An index (ie a list of the contents of the HIP)
• A sale statement (summarising the terms of sale)
• Evidence of title
• Standard searches (ie local authority enquiries and a drainage and water search)
• An Energy Performance Certificate (EPC)
• Property Information Questionnaire (PIQ)
• Commonhold information (where appropriate)
• A copy of the lease (where appropriate)
• A certificate (or interim certificate) showing the Code for Sustainable Homes rating or a nil-rated certificate (new builds only).

Optional documents include:

• A Home Condition Report (HCR)
• Additional leasehold, information
• Guarantees and warranties
• Other searches relevant to the particular area

Do You Need A Pack?

You do NOT need a Home Information Pack for:

• Properties where there is no marketing (e.g. sale to member of your family)
• Non-residential properties
• Properties subject to a condition limiting their use to occupation for less than 11 months per year or holiday accommodation
• Mixed sales (e.g. shop with flat)
• Right to buy and similar sales
• Sales of portfolios of properties
• Properties not being sold with completely vacant possession
• Unsafe properties and properties to be demolished

Benefits

Reforming the home buying and selling process

Reforming the home buying and selling process to provide consumers with a better deal is long overdue. Home Information Packs, together with reforms to conveyancing, local authority searches and consumer redress, are at the heart of these changes.

Under the Housing Act 2004 homeowners or their selling agents must produce a Home Information Pack when the property is marketed for sale. Home Information Packs will create a more transparent and efficient market where costs are shared more fairly between buyer and seller.

The Home Information Pack Programme has been developed by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), working in partnership with industry stakeholders, including the National Association of Estate Agents, the Law Society, the Council of Mortgage Lenders, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, the Association of Home Information Pack Providers and the Land Registry. Each industry sector has a key role to play in successfully delivering Home Information Packs to consumers.

The benefits Home Information Packs bring to consumers

The Home Information Pack will ensure that important information about a property is available to buyers and sellers early in the home buying and selling process, drawing attention to any problems before they delay the transaction or, possibly, cause it to fail.

In combination with other government initiatives as well as market-led innovation, HIPs will act as a catalyst for reform, leading to a home buying and selling process that is:

• More transparent - giving consumers a clearer, up-front picture of what they are buying and/or selling
• Quicker - with reduced transaction times
• More certain - with a reduction in the number of transactions that fall through between offer and exchange
• More efficient - with a reduction in abortive costs to both consumers and estate agents
• Smoother - the above reforms add up to a process that is less stressful and less confusing for consumers.

The benefits Home Information Packs bring to industry

• Improving the process of buying and selling by reducing the number of transaction failures and reducing the time taken between offer and acceptance
• A step on the ladder for new generations of home owners - through more affordable entry costs and simpler process for first time buyers
• Joined up processes through industry forging links to provide a seamless service to consumers.

From 1 October 2008, all residential properties for sale and to let require a Energy Performance Certificate.