what is a hip
The government introduced the Home Information Pack or HIP to help people buying a property to have more information about the house or flat that they were thinking about buying.
The idea behind HIPs is that if the information is prepared at the start of the process no nasty surprises will cause sales to collapse at the point of completion. Properties put on the market from 14 December 2007 in England and Wales need a Home Information Pack.
The contents of HIPs are complicated legal documents and will be properly explained by your solicitor but the key parts of a HIP are explained in this section in ordinary English.
CLICK HERE to search for a HIP in your area
more about... index
The Index is a list of the documents held within the pack. As a summary it provides a checklist of the more detailed documents that follow.
more about... sales summary
The sale statement provides some basic information about the property being sold such as the address, the title and the tenure
Title is whether details of the property are registered with the land registry. and the tenure is how the property is owned - freehold, leasehold or commonhold.
more about... evidence of title
Title documents prove who owns the property and has the right to sell it. The title of the property can be registered or unregistered, where Registered means that the documents proving title are held by the HM Land Registry. When the property being sold is unregistered additional documents will be needed to prove who owns the property.
In the case of the sale of a commonhold property, proof of title should be included for both the fully owned and common parts.
more about... copy of land registry plan
The title plan document is an official map showing the property and its boundaries. For commonhold property the plan for both the property and the common parts will be highlighted.
more about... energy performance certificate
Energy Performance Certificates or EPCs give an assessment of how energy efficient a home is on a scale of A-G. The results are presented in a graph similar to those used on electrical goods where A is the most efficient. The certificate is based on many pieces of information such as whether windows and doors are double glazed and whether electricity saving measures are used.
more about... local search
A local authority search will comprise details that the local council have relating to the property. The information which may be financial charges or rights and permissions is held in a land charges register. In addition the search will contain planning information and details of who is responsible for the roads around the property.
more about... official water search
Based on information held by the utility companies, the water and drainage search highlights the supply of water to the property and the waste pipes taking fluids away.
The quality of the water and drainage documentation is also important and only complete reports are acceptable.
more about... additional property information
In addition to the minimum requirement of the HIP regulations, sellers can also choose to include additional information about the property. When buyers are cautious about the market providing as much information on the property is the seller’s best protection against sales falling through.
more about... additional area information
In addition to the minimum requirements of a basic HIP, sellers can choose to have additional information included in the pack. These reports may be added because they will make the house easier to sell or because they will mean that the sale will progress more quickly.
more about... additional products
As the Home Information Pack is the first step to selling a house some of the providers listed on this website have included other products with the HIP.
