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Home Information Packs...
Home Information Packs will become compulsory for all sellers of residential property (for the sale of four bedroom properties and larger, with smaller properties being phased in as soon as sufficient energy assessors are fully qualified) in England and Wales with effect from August 2007. It will be an offence to market a property unless a Home Information Pack (HIP) has been commissioned for inspection by a prospective buyer.
The purpose of the Home Information Pack is to ensure that all relevant documents and searches are available when the property is marketed. Currently this is left until after a buyer has been found, often resulting in delays of weeks or even months. Many transactions fall through after the buyer has seen the survey which is often not available for some weeks, during which time the buyer may have paid for searches and other fees and expenses. The new rules recommend that the seller obtains a Home Condition Report from an approved home inspector so that the buyer can easily identify any potential problems with the property before making an offer and incurring expense.
Final Regulations have been published providing that the contents of the pack should be split into two categories; documents that are "compulsory" and must be included and other documents that are "optional" and are recommended to be included.
Documents in the compulsory category will include:
- An index showing all the documents in the pack
- An Energy Performance Certificate
- A copy of the seller's title to the property
- Local council and water and drainage searches
- A summary of the sale details
- A copy of any lease and details of the landlord
- Copies of the last 3 years service charge details for leasehold properties
- Building insurance details for leasehold properties
- Details of planned or recent work for leasehold properties
Documents in the optional category can include:
- The Home Condition Report
- Other searches such as mining searches
- Copies of any current planning applications
- Copies of building regulation approvals and certificates
- A property information form
- A fixtures and fittings list
- Copies of any warranties and guarantees
Where the seller experiences difficulty in obtaining certain documents, he will be allowed to market the property provided he can establish that he has used all reasonable efforts to obtain the documents within 28 days. This could happen with searches or a leasehold property where the seller is experiencing difficulty in getting management information from the landlord or managing agents.
