Home Information Packs

From 1st June 2007 Home Information Packs were compulsory. Anyone marketing a residential property for sale is required to have a home information pack for that property from the time the property first goes on the market. There are only a few residential properties exempt from this rule.

The packs will contain key documents for which there must be a checklist and as your estate agent it is our duty to ensure that there is a pack available.

Compulsary Item

The following are compulsory documents in the Home Information Pack – otherwise known as ‘required’ documents, as opposed to optional ‘authorised’ documents.

  • Energy Performance Certificate
  • Sale Statement
  • Searches
  • Evidence of title
  • Leasehold and commonhold documents
  • Home Information Pack Index

Home Information Pack Index

The compulsory documents include a Home Information Pack Index listing the documents contained in the Pack.

The Index provides a checklist for sellers, buyers, estate agents and enforcement authorities. Where a document that must be included in the Pack is unavailable, the Index must say so, given the reason it is missing, and indicate what steps are being taken to obtain it. Where documents are added to or removed from the Pack at a later stage, the Index should be revised accordingly.

Conditions

If a property is put onto the market before the 1st June 2007 it does not require a pack.

The HIP lasts until the property is sold, if it is taken off the market for less than a year and then remarketed part of the original pack may still be used.

There is no obligation to update the pack as long as the property remains on the market. However, some documents must be no more than three months old when marketing starts. No component of the pack should be more than 12 months old the day the property goes for sale.

Certain properties are exempt from requiring a Home Information Pack these include properties where there is no marketing (eg. Sale within the same family), seasonal and holiday accommodation, right to buy and similar sales, sales of portfolios of properties, properties being sold without complete vacant possession and unsafe properties due to be demolished.

Energy Performance Certificate

Energy Performance Certificates tell you how energy efficient a home is on a scale of A-G. The most efficient homes – which should have the lowest fuel bills – are in band A.

The Certificate also tells you, on a scale of A-G, about the impact the home has on the environment. Better-rated homes should have less impact through carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.

The Average property in the UK is in bands D-E for both ratings. The Certificate includes recommendations on ways to improve the home’s energy efficiency to save you money and help the environment.

Sellers of newly built homes will have to provide a predicted assessment of the efficiency of the property, but a full Energy Performance Certificate should be provided to the buyer when the home is completed.

Benefits

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 for 1st June 2007.

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 fall.

In combination with other government initiatives as well as market-led innovation, HIP’s will act as a catalyst for reform, leading to a home buying 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 time
  • 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 process through industry forging links to provide a seamless service to consumers.

Our opinion

We believe that this it is correct that Government should introduce legislation to both simplify and speed up the conveyancing process. Unfortunately, the Housing Act 2004 and the introduction of Home Information Packs serves only to satisfy some of the many complex issues that arise during a sale transaction.

However, there are two elements of this process which we believe are hugely beneficial. The first of which creates an environment whereby from the very first day of a property going to the market the vendor, the estate agent and the lawyer must communicate with each other. Surprisingly enough this happens very infrequently yet contributes substantially to the manner in which a transaction will proceed. The second point is, that apart from the Energy Performance Certificate, everything else in the pack has to be addressed at some stage during the conveyance and at a cost, irrespective of the introduction of the HIP. It is always better that these issues, like everything else in the transaction, is dealt with sooner rather than later.

You may rest assured that we offer full indemnity and stand behind the content of every HIP and have provided specialised HIP awareness and implementation training schemes for the benefit of our staff and clients.