Home Information Packs (HIPS)

Home Information Packs suspended

The government has suspended the requirement to provide a Home Information Pack prior to marketing a property for sale with effect from 22nd May 2010. It will still be necessary to obtain an Energy performance Certificate in order to sell a property. If you ask us to deal with the Conveyancing on your sale we can put you in touch with a local Domestic Energy Inspector.

The existence of the Packs will still be relevant for those properties marketed before that date in that the Packs may still be available in respect of those properties already on the market, and if so, Buyers may still save the cost of the local and drainage searches while these are still considered not to be "out of date".

We have left this page on our site for the time being so that anyone wanting to know about what is to be found in a pack can still obtain the information, but over time it will become purely of historic interest

What is a Home Information Pack?

Basically, it is a set of documents giving some information about a property being sold. The previous government felt that providing information early would speed up the Conveyancing process and get people moved more quickly. In theory this concept could help achieve this, but the way it has worked out in practice means it isn't necessarily as simple as that, and for the most part the HIP is an irrelevance that buyers don't look at, and sellers have to pay for.   The only real benefit at the moment is that the Local Search is usually available slightly earlier than previously.

Do all sales need a HIP?

With a few limited exceptions (set out on the HIP Exemptions page), any residential property in England & Wales first marketed in any way from 14th December 2007 and prior to 21st May 2010 will require a HIP.   

What is in a Home Information Pack?

There are compulsory ("required") items:

  • An Index (just a list of contents - with their dates, and if they are not yet included, why not and when they are expected.).
  • An Energy Performance Certificate
  • A sale statement (the name of the seller, whether a flat or house, whether freehold or leasehold, etc.)
  • The completed Local Authority Search and Enquiries
  • The completed Water and Drainage Search
  • Evidence of the seller's title
  • If leasehold, a copy of the lease
  • From April 2009, a Property Information Questionnaire. This is a standard prescribed form and contains questions about points buyers may want to know.   Unfortunately it is not comprehensive and sellers' solicitors may still produce more detailed information in their own forms, and if they do not do so, buyers' solicitors will still ask additional points to obtain information for their clients and to satisfy mortgage lender requirements. There are problems with this new form:

a) Some of the questions use expressions like being "aware" or "unaware" that have a particular legal meaning and a seller could innocently give a "wrong" answer without realising it.

b)  In other cases the literal answer might be confusing.   For instance there are questions about building and other work that the seller has had carried out, but a buyer may wonder why there is no mention of e.g. a conservatory that it later turns out was put in by a previous owner.

c)  The seller can incur legal liability if he gives wrong answers.   This means it is important that the replies are checked by a legally qualified person, so as far as possible a seller is protected from giving answers that would cause such liability.

And optional ("authorised") items:

  • A Home Condition Report. This is the simplified form of Survey that the Government had hoped would be provided in every case but a new profession of "Home Inspector" was created and they still do not appear to be a sufficient number of trained inspectors.
  • Other Searches
  • Copies of other relevant documents relating to the  title
  • Copies of Guarantees, Reports, Service Contracts etc
  • A Home Use Form or Sellers Property Information Form
  • A List of Fixtures, Fittings and Contents to be included in the sale.
  • For Leasehold Property, copies of accounts and statements relating to ground rent and maintenance/service charge and buildings insurance details.