Conveyancing Area - HIP Information

What are Home Information Packs ?

As from 6th April 2009 home information packs or HIP are now compulsory for most properties on the market in England and Wales. They are designed to aid the sale of property by presenting the key important information to the proposed buyers, and used to prevent extended delays caused by surprises when dealing in the sale and purchase of property. It is now in most cases a legal requirement for the seller of a property to have an up to date Home Information Pack (HIP) available before a property can go to market for sale.

What's in a HIP ?

Home Information Packs (HIP) contain two types of document. Firstly and most importantly they contain compulsory documents, these are the legal minimum requirement:-

Compulsory Items Freehold and Leasehold

• Home Information Pack Index
• Property Information Questionaire (PIQ)
• either an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC)
  or a Predicted Energy Assessment (PEA)
• Sale Statement
• Evidence of Title
• Standard Searches (Local Authority, Water and Drainage)
• Sustainability Information (required for newly built homes)

Additional Compulsory Items Leasehold

• Copy Of Lease

Secondly there are optional items, these are not legally required by may be included in a pack to further aid or speed up the sale and ensure the process goes more smoothly:-

Optional Items

• Home Condition Report
• Legal Summary
• Home use/contents form
• Other Documents or Searches (mining report etc)

What's not in a HIP

The Home Information Pack (HIP) should not contain any advertising or marketing material designed to sway your purchasing descision, it is a functional factual document and should contain official information only.

What does a HIP look like

There is no fixed look to a Home Information Pack (HIP) and different agents/sellers may provide visually different offerings, providing the offering contains all the compulsory items and does not contain advertising or marketing material it will be acceptable for the purposes of the HIP definition.

It should also be noted that certain documents should not be any older than three months when the property was first marketed fro sale.

Buyer Specific Information

The HIP must be available on the first day a property is marketed for sale. If you are buying a property you should ask who ever is marketing the property for a copy of the HIP. This is usually the estate agent, but could be another individual or business.

You are entitled to a copy of the Home Information Pack (HIP) free of charge, however there could be a small reasonable charge made to cover the costs of copying and or posting the it.

Seller Specific Information.

You will be legally required to supply a Home Information pack (HIP) to a buyer of your property, you are required to have a completed HIP available BEFORE you can market your property and it must be no older than three months at the point they you first market your property. Any person(s) or business acting on your behalf in the sale or marketting of a property is also required to supply the HIP if requested.

Who Compiles My HIP

You can compile your own HIP, or you can hire an estate agent, solicitor or HIP provider to do it for you, which ever method you choose you should ensure the HIP provider is signed up to a code of practice like the HIP Code.

Who pays for the HIP

As the seller of a property you are reaponsible for the cost of the HIP pack.

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