Home information packs are now compulsory for all properties
If you are selling a property of any size in England and Wales you will now have to provide prospective buyers with a home information pack (HIP), although a new-build property can still be sold without a HIP until April 6 of this year. The government's HIP scheme is now been extended to one-and two-bedroom properties.
The HIPs, which contain information about a property including an energy efficiency assessment, searches and title deeds, were previously compulsory on larger properties. Provided and paid for by sellers, a HIP may typically cost an average of £350.
The scheme is designed to speed up the selling process and reduce the number of transactions that fall through by giving potential buyers information about a property upfront. However, until June 1 this year sellers will still be able to market a property before the HIP has been compiled.
Originally the government had planned to make HIPs compulsory on all properties from June last year. Instead, the packs have been rolled out in phases, first to homes last year with four bedrooms or more in August, then to three-bedroom properties in September last year.
The Association of Home Information Pack Providers (AHIPP) have said that the full roll-out of the packs in their current form should be the "starting point and not the final destination." They are calling for information such as a home condition report to be added to the packs, so they contain everything needed by a seller to exchange on a property.
Plans to include a home condition report in the HIP were dropped after opposition from lenders who said they would still require their own survey before offering a mortgage on a property.
AHIPP have made it clear that for HIPs to fully inform potential buyers about properties they are viewing it is vital that the home condition report is made a mandatory part of the pack, and that many of the searches which provide information on flooding, ground movement and contamination are included.
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