From 6 April 2009, a basic Home Information Pack (HIP), must be in place before a property is marketed.
In addition, from the same date, a HIP will need to include a Property Information Questionnaire providing basic useful information about a property including a leasehold summary.
What goes in a HIP ?
A HIP contains documents that are required when homes are bought and sold.
The compulsory documents include:-
- An index (a list of the contents of the HIP)
- A sale statement (summarizing the terms of sale)
- Standard searches (a drainage and water search and local authority enquiries)
- An Energy Performance Certificate (EPC)
- Commonhold information, if appropriate
- A copy of the lease, if appropriate.
- A Home Condition Report (HCR)
- Additional leasehold information
- Guarantees and warranties
- Other searches relevant to the particular area.
At CWJ, we produce our own HIPs, so you have peace of mind that it complies with the Government’s regulations.
We can produce a HIP, which complies with the current regulations and contains all the compulsory documents for between £300 - £399, inclusive of VAT. This will include an Official Local Authority search as opposed to a Personal Local Authority search. The latter may not be acceptable to your Buyer’s mortgage lender and, in turn, could delay the transaction.
If you have any questions about HIPS or any aspect of residential property, please contact the Residential Property Team.
HIPs Update
On 8 December 2008, Housing Minister, Rt Hon Margaret Beckett MP, announced a new package of measures to improve and simplify the content of HIPs and ensure consumers can see and use the information at the start of the home buying and selling process. amendments to the Home Information Pack Regulations.
Personal Search V Official Search
At CWJ, we decided that when compiling a Home Information Pack (“HIP), we would choose to incorporate an official local search instead of, like many other firm’s and HIP providers do, a personal search. Many people are not aware of what the differences between the two are.
An official search is a search certified by the Council, which means that if anything were to go wrong, the Local Land Charges Act 1975 makes provision for compensation. With this comes what is called a CON29 questionnaire, which can only be completed by trained Council staff who have access to the information required. This information includes any parking restrictions, environmental issues, traffic calming measures and highway schemes.
A personal search gives a result from the Register of Local Land Charges, but does not include the CON29 information and the result is not certified by the Council.
Another important factor of our decision to use an official search, is the number of Mortgage Lenders who do not accept personal searches and require an official search to be applied for. If, you provide a personal search to potential buyers, but their mortgage lender does not accept it, their Solicitors will need to apply for the search again, themselves, which defeats the purpose of a HIP.
As the CON29 provides definitive information about the property and the official search is certified and accepted by all mortgage lenders, it is important to us at CWJ to use this in our HIP to ensure that the HIP does what it is there to do, speed up the conveyancing process (and help any potential buyers).
