Home Information Packs (HIPs)
In early 2007 the government plans to introduce Home Information Packs (HIPs). From this point, any seller of a residential property must obtain a Home Information Pack. This would be even if the seller plans to sell their property privately.
Before a property can be marketed by an estate agent, the seller must have a Home Information Pack. A seller will no longer simply be able to go to an estate agent and expect them to market the property immediately. Firstly the seller will have to obtain the legally binding Home Information Pack.
The exact content of the Home Information Pack has not been absolutely finalised although it is expected to include:
- A Home Condition Report (Similar to the Home Buyers Survey now obtained by us for our clients)
- Fixture and Fittings Form
- Sellers Property Information Form
- Copy local searches
- Local land charges
- Summary of the terms of sale
- Copies of guarantees and warranties
In addition, if the property is leasehold (for instance a flat), the following will need to be included:
- A copy of the head lease and any other relevant leases
- Service charge accounts
- Building insurance details
- Management company regulations
- Memorandum of Articles of Management Company
- Sellers Property Information Form (leasehold)
There may be variations for new properties.
The above lists are not exhaustive and, nearer the time, the government should publish what exactly the Home Information Packs should contain. However, what is known at this stage is that the Information Packs will be required before a seller can put the property on the market.
As can be seen from the anticipated content of the Home Information Packs, much of the documentation is legal and is currently and will remain to be dealt with by solicitors as part of the conveyancing transaction.
You should instruct a solicitor to prepare your pack for you before you look to market your home. There are already a number of companies set up to provide Home Information Packs although these concentrate on being able to provide a pack electronically as opposed to providing a legally binding pack to enable you to sell your home. Whoever you obtain your pack from, your solicitor must be involved to ensure your interests are protected.
We would advise that if you are looking to sell a residential property, the first step you should take is to contact a solicitor. We would advise that this is done before contacting an estate agent. The solicitor, who understands the legal implications of the transaction and the legality of the documents required in the Pack, can either produce the Home Information Pack or obtain it from a Home Information Pack provider company who the solicitor knows and trusts.
We intend to provide Home Information Packs ourselves. We believe this will assist our clients by speeding up the process and ensuring all relevant documentation is contained within the Home Information Pack as soon as possible. Our clients will have the reassurance that we, as lawyers, understand what needs to go into the Pack (as we have been dealing with the documents for years!) and the best way of obtaining the documents quickly and cost effectively.
We work closely with estate agents who we can instruct to market the property once the Home Information Pack is in place. This should ease the whole process for our clients.
We, as solicitors, are the best people to collate the Home Information Pack. It will call for legal expertise to assess which documents should be included in the pack. These documents will be relied upon and will have legal effect.. We believe that if a seller comes to us first then we can get the process rolling quickly and ensure the process is dealt with smoothly and efficiently.
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