- The costs and implications of Home Information Packs (HIP).
- Conveyancing questionnaires can improve the buying and selling process, says the Conveyancing Association.
Under the Housing Act 2004, a Home Information Pack (HIP) had to be provided before a property in England and Wales could be put on the open market for sale with vacant possession. The pack was a set of documents containing information about the property, including an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC), local authority searches, title documents, and any guarantees. They were made mandatory for homes with four or more bedrooms on 1 August 2007, and extended to three-bedroomed properties the following month.
The purpose behind them, in the Government’s thinking, was that a HIP would lower the number of abortive sales, and reduce gazumping and gazundering. But this didn’t convince some factions in the building industry, nor estate agents. Most criticism—understandably—was directed at the requirement that the pack be completed before the property was marketed, which was changed, in May 2008,
