The Home Information Pack

Buying and selling a property doesn’t always go according to plan. The reality is that 9 out of 10 people say they’re dissatisfied with the current process. Currently, one in four transactions collapse before contracts are exchanged and one million pounds a day is wasted, mainly due to transactions failing at a late stage.

From 1 August 2007, all home owners of four bedroom properties or larger in England and Wales will need to prepare a Home Information Pack before putting their home up for sale. Two further phases will follow being three bedroom properties and then all other properties. The timescale for the two further phases will depend upon how quickly sufficient Home Inspectors and Domestic Energy Assessors have been Certified or Accredited. The expected numbers required to trigger the phases are 2,000 and 3,000 respectively.

It is anticipated that the number of qualified Home Inspectors and Domestic Energy Assessors will in fact exceed the 2,000 threshold before 1st August leading to the introduction of the second phase shortly thereafter.
The Packs will contain an Energy Performance Certificate, searches and legal documents, which will be mandatory. A Home Condition Report can also be included by sellers on a voluntary basis

The Home Information Pack is a set of documents providing important information about a property such as searches, copies of the deeds and information regarding its energy efficiency.

Currently, much of this essential information only comes to light when an offer has been made and accepted. In the meantime, buyers are negotiating in the dark and are often wasting money on legal fees and searches. Providing this information up front, at the time of marketing a property, will make the home buying and selling process more efficient and transparent.

The Home Information Pack Regulations 2006 set out details of the contents of the packs which are divided into two sections being ‘required documents’ and 'authorised documents’. Where appropriate, required documents must be included in the pack and authorised documents may be included at the sellers discretion

The required documents are:

• An index (i.e. a list of the contents of the Pack)
• A sale statement (summarising terms of sale)
• An Energy Performance Certificate
• Evidence of title
• Standard searches (i.e. local authority enquiries and a drainage and water search)
• Where appropriate, commonhold information (including a copy of the commonhold community statement)
• Where appropriate, leasehold information (including a copy of the lease, information on service charges and insurance)
• Where appropriate, a New Homes Warranty
• Where appropriate, a report on a home that is not physically complete

The authorised documents include:

• Guarantees and warranties
• Other searches.
• A Home Condition Report

Although the Government has indicated it will make Home Condition Reports voluntary it strongly believes that these are likely to prove valuable to both sellers and buyers, and is working with the industry to ensure that there is active take up.