Home Information Packs (HIPS)

This information is intended as a brief introduction on general issues for clients. It is not a substitute for detailed legal advice given on a specific transaction.

Background

Home Information Packs (HIPs) are a Government initiative aimed at providing buyers with more information on property at an earlier stage in the hope that this will lead to fewer conveyancing delays and abortive transactions. The packs will also include information on energy efficiency and suggestions for how this can be improved.

Implementation

From 14 December 2007, a HIP is required at the first point of marketing for sale of a home. There are limited exceptions, such as for holiday homes.

Also, new homes that comply with the latest regulations on emissions do not need a HIP.

Transitional Provisions

A property already being marketed before the date the law came into force does not need a HIP. As regards a home with four or more bedrooms this date is 1 August 2007, as regards a home with three or more bedrooms this date is 10 September 2007, and as regards a home with one or two bedrooms, this date is 14 December 2007.

Until 31 December 2008, a home can be marketed without a HIP where the HIP has been commissioned. However, contracts cannot be exchanged until the seller gives the buyer an energy performance certificate.

Until 31 December 2008, as regards leasehold property, management information is not required in the HIP.

Responsibility for HIP Production

The person responsible for marketing the property is responsible for providing the HIP. The provider of any specific document within the HIP is responsible for the accuracy of that document.

HIP Contents

There are required documents, documents that are authorised for inclusion but which are not mandatory and excluded documents which must not be included in a HIP.

Required documents

• * An index setting out the contents of the pack and explaining why a required document is missing from the pack.
• * An energy performance certificate.
• * A sale statement including the property address, whether it is freehold or leasehold, whether the title is registered or unregistered, and the name of the seller.
• * For property registered at Land Registry, official copy entries and the title plan and for property not registered at Land Registry, copies of the relevant unregistered title deeds.
• * For leasehold property, a copy of the lease (or its proposed terms if it is not yet granted). If available, information or estimates of ground rent, 12 months’ contribution for service charges and buildings and public indemnity insurance.
• A local authority search.
• A drainage and water search.

Land Registry information and the searches must be no more than three months old at the first point of marketing. The energy performance certificate must be no more than 12 months old.

Items marked * must be in the HIP from the outset, with these exceptions. The energy performance certificate can be added within 28 days, so long as there is proof of reasonable, continuing efforts to obtain it.

Authorised documents

• A home condition report.
• Documents relating to any works carried out since the date of the home condition report (eg. planning consent and building regulations completion certificates).
• An existing building warranty (e.g. NHBC or Zurich).
• Information about the design or standards to which the property is being or was built.
• An explanation or legal advice on any of the pack contents, or information on where a document has come from or any complaint or redress procedure relating to it.
• Information identifying the property, such as a photograph or plan.
• Certain additional searches.

Excluded documents

Any document, which is not a required document or an authorised document, must not be included in a HIP. Information advertising or marketing goods or services is specifically prohibited.

Updating HIPs

Whenever a HIP document is updated, then the updated version must be substituted for the old version and the HIP index must be updated.

Variations in marketing

A new HIP is not required where a property is taken off the market and put back on the market within one year from the date of the original first point of marketing.

If a property has not been sold within one year after the first point of marketing then (except for the exception below) a new HIP must be produced including a new energy performance certificate and searches.

If a property is put back on the market within 28 days of a failed sale, a new HIP will not be required, even if the property has been off the market for more than a year.

Dealing with a request for a HIP

A HIP must be provided to a potential buyer within 14 days of a request. However, a HIP need not be provided where the seller believes on reasonable grounds that the sale is unlikely to proceed due to insufficient funds, or lack of genuine interest. A seller need not provide a HIP to a person to whom he does not want to sell.

Enforcement

If a HIP is not produced in accordance with the Regulations a penalty charge of £200 may be levied. Enforcement is the responsibility of local authority trading standards officers.

Find out more

www.homeinformationpacks.gov.uk

May 2008