Legal - Solicitors & Conveyancers

Home Information Packs will be compulsory for properties 3 bedroom or above as of 10th September 2007. Anyone marketing a residential property for sale will be required to have a Home Information Pack for that property from the time the property first goes on the market. 

Additionally, properties on the market before 10th September 2007 won't need a Pack, unless it is unsold on 1 January 2008.

Home Information Packs will contain an Energy Performance Certificate and other key documents such as evidence of title, local authority and drainage and water searches and key leasehold documents where appropriate.

The duty to provide a Pack falls on the person responsible for marketing the property (usually an estate agent). However, the information provided in the Pack is of great use to conveyancers and solicitors, and you will want to be aware of the contents of the Pack and the authority of the information contained in the documents.

The documents that have to be included in a Pack from the first day of marketing include an index, an Energy Performance Certificate, the sales statement and evidence of title. 

For the other compulsory documents – the local property searches and certain documents for leasehold properties – the Government is initially allowing flexibility. 

Marketing can begin provided the missing documents are added to the Pack as soon as possible. There must be evidence in the Pack that these documents have already been commissioned.

Optional documents in the HIP include the Home Condition Report (HCR), which the Government strongly encourages sellers to include.

National Association of Registered Home Inspectors