The recent Housing Act requires that nearly all homes marketed from June 2007 will require a Home Information Pack (HIP), sometimes referred to as a seller’s pack.

The pack will contain basic information about the property being offered for sale. Some of the pack contents will be complusory where as other items can be put in only if you want to.  The pack is likely to consist of the following, although the precise detail has yet to be defined by the Government:

	terms of sale;
	evidence of title;
	replies to standard preliminary enquiries made on behalf of buyers;
	copies of any planning, listed building and building regulations consents and approvals;
	for new properties, copies of warranties and guarantees;
	any guarantees for work carried out on the property;
	replies to local searches; and
	a home condition report based on a professional survey of the property, including an energy efficiency assessment.

Also, for leasehold properties:
	a copy of the lease;
	most recent service charge accounts and receipts;
	building insurance policy details and payment receipts;
	regulations made by the landlord or management company; and
	memorandum and articles of the landlord or management company

Full details, together with a very informative leaflet, can be found at the Government website www.odpm.gov.uk/homeinformationpacks

Don’t worry – you don’t have to do it yourself!
In most cases your Estate Agent will obtain the pack for you and most Estate Agents will use a firm such as Packprovider to commission the (change) Energy Performance Certificate/Home Condition Report survey and assemble the pack. However, there is nothing to stop you from approaching a Packprovider directly.



Your Estate Agent will be unable to market your property until the pack is assembled, so a Packprovider will need to provide a speedy service.

Provided that you can agree an early appointment to allow the Home Inspector into your property, you should expect the pack to be completed within a week provided that no complications have been encountered.

It is often said that the Home Condition Report will be worthless because it has been paid for by the seller and the buyer will not be able to trust it. We don’t think this will be the case.

The Home Inspector, who produces the report, is licenced by the government and has to pass a stringent qualification and examination process. Furthermore, the reports the inspector produces will be subject to random independent scrutiny.

Any inspector who produces less than truthful reports is likely to lose their livelihood and would also be liable to legal proceedings.

Probably the best analogy is to think of the report as an MOT for a house - most people are content to accept an MOT certificate included as part of a second hand car sale.

Well not really. Under the existing pre 2007 system, searches and the other legal documents have to be obtained, but only when the sale is concluded.

A wise purchaser will already want to commission a survey on the property they are about to buy just to ensure that there are no hidden problems.

So all the elements of a HIP are already part of the current house purchase process. A HIP simply requires that these elements are produced early on in the sale process. At the end of the day the total cost of selling and buying a house is unlikely to rise. In fact it could save you a lot of money in wasted legal and survey fees as HIPs are expected to significantly reduce the number of transactions that fail at the last moment, when unexpected difficulties are encountered.

Many forward thinking Estate Agents are already starting to offer packs now.

If you are selling your house with a pack a potential purchaser knows that it has already been properly surveyed and that hidden surprises are unlikely.

Make your property stand out from the competition.

If your agent does not yet offer packs, and you live within our coverage area, consider contacting us directly.