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The Government have now announced that HIPS will not come into force until the 1st August and then only for houses with 4 bedrooms or more. The precise terms of the new rules are currently awaited. For the time being our notes below will only apply to houses with 4 bedrooms or more and will be subject to any other changes the Government introduces.
A HIP or Home Information Pack contains information about the property you are looking to sell. From August 1st this year you will not be able to sell your property without one. If you sell your property through an Estate Agent they will need a HIP before they can begin to market your property.
Contact any of the solicitors or licensed conveyancers shown on this website and they can provide one to you or to the Estate Agent selling your property.
The first point of marketing is the time when the property is put on the market or it is made public that the property is on the market.
The remaining documents must be included in the Home Information Pack before the end of the period of 28 days starting with the first point of marketing; this is subject to 2 exceptions:
The responsible person is any person responsible for marketing the property. This will mean the seller or any person acting as an estate agent for the seller.
Home Condition Reports are now voluntary as opposed to mandatory.
The property can now be marketed without the results of a Local Search or Leasehold information being available at the outset.
The Energy Performance Certificate must be placed second in the pack behind the index. The remaining pack documents may be included in any order.
In the event that an Energy Performance Certificate cannot be obtained within 14 days of the first point of marketing then the property can be marketed without it provided that it has been applied for and all reasonable steps are then taken to obtain it. Proof of request for the document must be included in the Pack.
Information put into the Pack must not be more than 3 months old at the first point of marketing.
No information may be included in the Pack of an advertising or marketing material unless it amounts to authorised material.
The penalty for marketing a property in breach of the Regulations is a fine of £200 by way of a penalty charge notice. Payment of the penalty charge does not entitle the person to continue marketing the property in breach of the Regulations. To do so can result in further penalty charge notices. If the person is an Estate Agent it also amounts to an “undesirable practice” for the purposes of Section 3 (1) (d) of the Estate Agents Act 1979 and would render them liable to action by the Office of Fair Trading. This could result in a banning order which would prevent them from continuing to trade.
Documents in a Pack must be legible save where the only version available is one which is illegible.
A property which is on the market as of the 1st August will not need a HIP before the 31st December. All property from the 1st January 2008 will need a HIP.
A new HIP is not needed if the property is taken off the market and then put back on before the end of the period of 1 year starting with the day on which the first point of marketing falls.
If the property is taken off the market because the seller accepts an offer to buy the property and is subsequently put back on the market after the expiration of the period of one year from the date of first marketing then no further first point of marketing shall arise provided the property is put back on the market within 28 days or the offer being withdrawn or its acceptance repudiated.
A copy will be given to any prospective purchaser of your property who shows a serious interest in purchasing it. The more information they have about your property at the outset the less chance they will withdraw from the sale at a later date. Having all this information available at the outset should help speed up the transaction.
Most of the information in the HIP forms part of the legal documentation we send to the buyer's solicitor when we are dealing with the conveyancing. However if your property is on the market for a considerable period of time, some of the information in it may become out of date by the time you find a buyer.
Within 14 days of it being requested a copy of the HIP must be supplied to any potential buyer of your property who requests it subject to prior payment (paper copy only). A HIP need not be provided where there are reasonable grounds for believing the person making the request:
You can charge a sum which doesn't exceed the reasonable cost of making and if requested sending a paper copy. No charge can be made for electronic copies. Electronic copies can only be sent with the agreement of the potential buyer.
If the pack contains searches and other information which a buyer can use and which the buyer would normally have to pay for then it would not be unreasonable to seek payment for it from the buyer. However if your pack contained a personal search, which is not acceptable to the buyers mortgagee then they may need to do a further local search. Some searches and information may have become out of date and the buyer may need to apply for new ones.
A HIP can be provided in both in a paper or electronic format.
The cost will vary, depending on the locality of the property, whether its freehold or leasehold and the charges of the information providers used to source the contents of the pack. Proposed charges are still being finalised however current indicators suggest the cost will be in the region of £350.00-£750.00.
From the 1st August 2007 all Estate Agents selling homes with HIPS will have to belong to an approved redress scheme. Applications for approval to operate these schemes close on 1st December and the DTI is working at having a scheme in place by 1st August 2007. The Ombudsman for Estate Agents website www.oea.co.uk has been approved to operate such a scheme. Any Estate Agent who is already a member of the OEA is automatically registered under the scheme. Any Estate Agent currently not registered with the OEA will have to pay an annual membership of £141 per office inclusive of VAT which is a registration fee of £20 plus VAT per office plus a membership of £100 plus VAT per office.
Key features of the redress scheme are:
We are all local solicitors and licensed conveyancers with many years experience of buying and selling property in the area. We can offer:
Contact any of our members. All our details are set out on this website. They will be happy to discuss HIPS with you without any charge or obligation.
These notes are intended to be a general statement of the law as it stood prior to the Governments announcement on the 22nd May 2007. The specific changes to the above rules are currently awaited. Specific advice must be sought on any particular problem and no responsibility is accepted for any error or omission these notes may contain.