If you're buying or selling a home from 1 June 2007, you will need to know about Home Information Packs.

Sellers: you will need to have a Pack before you put your home onto the market
Buyers: the Pack will offer you essential information about the property you wish to buy, for free.

A Home Information Pack contains:

* An Energy Performance Certificate which tells you how energy efficient the property is
* Other compulsory documents, such as an index of contents, a sale statement, searches and evidence of title
* Optional documents, such as the Home Condition Report

Home Information Packs Will Address:
Consumer dissatisfaction - nearly nine out of 10 consumers are dissatisfied with the present process

Lack of transparency - at present key information about the property only becomes available after terms of the sale have been agreed

High transaction failure rate - 28% of property sales fail after terms have been agreed

High costs of failed transactions for consumers - over £350m lost a year

Slow transaction process - twice the European average

Uncertainty – 60 per cent of property sales are in chains. Delay or failure in one has a knock-on effect through the chain

Other direct benefits for home buyers and sellers:
Consumer confidence – estate agents marketing homes with Home Information Packs will be required, for the first time, to belong to an approved redress scheme. This means more peace of mind and a better standard of service for consumers who will be able to complain to an independent industry body if they’re not happy with how they have been treated.

First time buyers – will receive Home Information Packs for ‘free’, making it easier and less expensive for them to get their first foot onto the property ladder.

Sellers can top up their Packs voluntarily to include full Home Condition Reports. These reports are based on a professional survey of the property and will be authorised documents. Sellers offering full Home Condition Reports will be more likely to benefit from swifter sales and suffer fewer transaction failures, as accepted offers are much less likely to be re-opened as a result of new information coming to light. The Government is working with stakeholders to facilitate the take-up of the full Home Condition Report.

There are few exemptions from this new law:

New builds
Commercial Premises and
Right to buy.


  

Top-up HCR

Sellers can top up their Packs voluntarily to include full Home Condition Reports.

These reports are based on a professional survey of the property and will be authorised documents.

Sellers offering full Home Condition Reports will be more likely to benefit from swifter sales and suffer fewer transaction failures, as accepted offers are much less likely to be re-opened as a result of new information coming to light.

The Government is working with stakeholders to facilitate the take-up of the full Home Condition Report.

Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG)