Home Information Packs (HIP's)
All home owners in England and Wales will now need to prepare a Home Information Pack before putting their home up for sale.
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Buying and selling a property doesn’t always go according to plan. The Home Information Pack is a set of documents providing important information about a property such as searches, copies of the deeds and information regarding its energy efficiency.
Currently, much of this essential information only comes to light when an offer has been made and accepted. In the meantime, buyers are negotiating in the dark and are often wasting money on legal fees and searches. Providing this information up front, at the time of marketing a property, will make the home buying and selling process more efficient and transparent.
What's in a Home Information Pack?
The Home Information Pack Regulations 2006 set out provisions on the “required” and “authorised” content of the Pack. Required documents must be included in the pack where appropriate and authorised documents may be included at the seller’s discretion.
The required documents are:
:: An index (i.e. a list of the contents of the Pack)
:: A sale statement (summarising terms of sale)
:: Evidence of title
:: Standard searches (i.e. local authority enquiries and a drainage and water search)
:: An Energy Performance Certificate
:: Where appropriate, commonhold information (including a copy of the commonhold community statement)
:: Where appropriate, leasehold information (including a copy of the lease, information on service charges and insurance)
:: Where appropriate, a New Homes Warranty
:: Where appropriate, a report on a home that is not physically complete
The authorised documents include:
:: A Home Condition Report
:: Guarantees and warranties
:: Other searches.
An authorised document means that sellers can use them to top up their Packs voluntarily to include additional material where they judge that to be of interest to prospective buyers. Although the Government has indicated it will make Home Condition Reports voluntary, it strongly believes that these are likely to prove valuable to both sellers and buyers, and is working with the industry to ensure that there is active take up.
[All information has been obtained from www.homeinformationpacks.gov.uk]
