From the 14th of December 2007 all residential properties going on the market in England or Wales will require a HIP.
The Pack will bring together key information needed by buyers and sellers at the very start of the home-buying process.
Until 1st of June 2008 a property that requires a HIP can be marketed as long as the HIP has been ordered. As soon as the Energy Performance Certificate is available the EPC Graph must be displayed on the property details.
Also, until the 1st June 2008, if the property is leasehold the only required leasehold document to complete the HIP is the lease itself.
From 1st June 2008 these relaxed regulations will change and, when marketing begins, the Pack must contain at least the following:
- An Index of contents
- A Sale Statement
- Evidence of title (for registered properties)
- An Energy Performance Certificate
The following documents are also compulsory, but can be added to the Pack later if there are delays in obtaining them:
- Evidence of title (for unregistered properties)
- Searches
- Leasehold/commonhold documents where appropriate.
Where any items are missing, the Index should explain why. Where evidence of title, searches and leasehold/commonhold documents are missing, the seller must provide evidence that an agreement has been made to provide the documents as soon as practicable and within 28 days, except in exceptional circumstances. If this takes longer than 28 days, marketers will be expected to demonstrate that they have made all reasonable efforts and enquiries to obtain them.
The Pack will also ensure that important information about improving the energy efficiency of homes is made available every time a property is sold.
What do I need to do?
Until the 1st June 2008 all you must do is make sure that a Home Information Pack has been ordered before your property is marketed.
From the 1st June 2008 the person responsible for marketing a property must have a Home Information Pack in their possession while the property is on the market and provide a potential buyer with a copy of the Pack, or any document from it, on request and within the ‘permitted period’. These duties do not apply to sellers in cases where an estate agent is responsible for marketing the property.
The ‘permitted period’ is either 14 days following the request for copies, or, if later, the day on which a payment for copies is received.
The ‘permitted period’ is either 14 days following the request for copies, or, if later, the day on which a payment for copies is received.
Where do I get a Pack?
You can get your right here at hhip.co.uk . Just go to our ‘Ordering a HIP’ page and follow the instructions.
How long does a Pack last for?
While the property is on the market, there is no need to update the Home Information Pack (ultimately, the market decides whether the documents remain acceptable and up to date).
If the sale of your property stops and then starts again, you would normally be required to assemble a new Pack and to update those documents which are now out of date according to the requirements of the Home Information Pack Regulations. However, the seller can carry on using the same Pack without the need to update any of the documents in the following circumstances:
- Where marketing stopped because the seller accepted an offer and wants to restart marketing because the sale has fallen through, provided that remarketing starts within one year of the date when marketing first began or, if later, within 28 days of the sale falling through.
- Where marketing has stopped for any other reason, the seller may remarket the property with the same Pack provided that remarketing starts within one year of the date when marketing first began.
What about new-build properties?
Sellers of newly built homes will have to provide a Home Information Pack for potential buyers.
Where a home is marketed "off-plan" before it is physically complete, it will need a Pack (subject to the Packs phased implementation) but it will not have a full Energy Performance Certificate (EPC). Instead the Pack will contain a Predicted Energy Assessment. This will look similar to the graphs from a full EPC and will be produced from the design plans for the building rather than a physical inspection. There is no specified form for the predicted energy assessment as yet.
Exemptions
Sales of homes built to the most recent Building Regulations (Regulation 17C, Part L, 2006) are exempt from the need to have a Pack under the first Home Information Packs commencement order. This is because the software used to produce EPCs for these buildings (using SAP) is currently in development. They will be brought into the requirements through a separate commencement order once the software is available (the government is predicting April 2008).
Sales of homes built to previous Building Regulations (i.e. pre 2006) will need a Pack and EPC (or Predicted Energy Assessment) from 14th December if they are marketed for sale on or after that date.
The EPC for these buildings will be produced using the currently available RdSAP software. From April 2008, all new homes, regardless of which Buildings Regulations they were constructed under, will have to have a SAP based EPC produced as part of the Building Regulations sign off process.
The developer or builder should know which building regulations applied if there is any doubt about whether a HIP is required for a particular property.
As most new homes are sold 'off plan' before they're built, there might be differences between Packs for these sales and Packs provided for properties sold as completed dwellings. For example, the searches for the property and title information may cover a wider area if the property has not yet been allocated an address and individual titles have not yet been created.
How much will it cost me?
Visit our Pricing section for pricing information.
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