domestic energy assessors

Home Information Pack (or HIP as it is better known) is a set of documents that provide necessary information about a property (in England and Wales) put up in the open market for sale.

Also referred to as the 'Seller's Pack', Home Information Pack is essentially a set of documents that the owner of a property will have to produce if he/she intends to sell the property. The Energy Performance Certificate, Sale Statements, local authority searches, title documents, etc. are some of the most important documents included in an HIP.

Why Do You Need Home Information Packs?

Home Information Packs were originally introduced to check the gazumping, the rampant mismanagement and delay in home buying/selling process. HIP's will make the transactions transparent and speedy.

Until the time that Home Information Packs were not mandatory, the home buying and selling process was full of flaws and uncertainties. Most of the time, buyers were in the dark because of lack of proper information; the sellers, similarly, faced difficulty in arriving at a realistic asking price for the property. Many property deals fell through because of this ambiguity. Researches proved that the estimated loss resulting from such unproductive property-sale attempts added up to some £350 million in a year.

Following the changes introduced since April 6, 2009, property-owners are now obliged to make an HIP available from the first day their property is put to market. The seller could include local searches in his HIP up to 28 days after the first day of marketing.

The sellers are at liberty to choose whether they want to include other permitted information, like additional leasehold information or a Home Condition Report if they think these improve the HIP. However, all the searches must contain complete data with no gaps in what is being covered by the insurance.

Secondly, the HIP thus provided must enclose a mandatory Property Information Questionnaire. A completed PIQ is meant to enlist all the vital information about your property at one place and help your prospective buyers.

The renewed HIP will provide better information on the first day of marketing a property. The PIQ answers all the common questions that a buyer can ask. This will remove the problem of unnecessary delays in the processing of the home buying/selling transaction and eliminate the chances of unwanted surprises in future. This will vastly change the scenario and make property transactions more straightforward.

Overall, the buyer will be satisfied, as this will leave no need for any re-negotiations. Hence, it can be hoped that the whole affair is usually wrapped up quite fast without any ill feelings between the two parties.

What Does A Home Information Pack Include?

Information provided under the HIP's can be divided under two definite heads - required and authorised. A person putting up his property for sale must submit the documents containing the 'required' information.

According to the new regulations introduced from 6th April 2009, the HIP must include an index, which lists the contents of the HIP. The contents will necessarily include documents like:

• HIP index
• The Property Information Questionnaire (PIQ)
• The Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) or Predicted Energy
• Assessment (PEA)
• Sustainability information  in case the property being sold is newly built
• Sale statement
• Evidence title
• Standard searches like local authority and drainage and water
• A copy of the lease if a leasehold property is being sold

If a property is on leasehold, then the seller will be required to provide some additional information in the form of building insurance policy, contact details for the property owner/management, copy of the lease, legal details, recent service charge receipts and accounts as well as all applicable regulations along with the 'required' Home Information Pack documents.

These apart, the seller may also produce other 'authorised' information contained in documents like the Home Condition Report, Legal Summary & Other Search Reports. (The inclusion of search reports like mining search reports are case specific, depending on the area, etc.) Two sellers questionnaire forms - the Home Use Form and Home Contents Form - can also be included in the HIP.