What's a H.I.P?
What is a Home Information Pack?
The Government introduced HIPS - the common abbreviation for Home Information Packs - in England and Wales on 1st August 2007 to help improve and streamline the home selling and buying process. Anyone now selling a property must provide all potential buyers with a Home Information Pack (HIP). Each pack must include an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC), Searches and other legal documents. The vendor can also opt to include a Home Condition Report (HCR) which gives details on the condition of a property.
What is an Energy Performance Certificate?
The Energy Performance Certificate in a HIP provides buyers & vendors with ratings from A to G on their homes, quite like a fridge rating. It also includes a list of practical measures to cut their fuel bills & carbon emissions. By acting on the recommendations listed in the HIP Energy Performance Certificate, the average homeowner should save £££'s a year on fuel bills and help to reduce the UK's carbon emissions currently generated by us in our homes.
What is a Home Condition Report?
The Home Condition Report in a HIP contains information about the physical condition of the property. The information in this part of the HIP would be sufficient for vendors, buyers and lenders to be able to rely on legally as an objective and authoritative report.
Vendors who decide to include a Home Condition Report in their HIPs will then have the great opportunity to carry out repair work on the property or obtain quotes prior to placing it on the market. Another benefit is that potential buyers will be made aware through the HIP of any repairs that they might need to make and fund, or they will be reassured that the property is in good condition, in both cases before they decide to put in an offer. The HIP should help see fewer sales fall through due to survey issues. Lenders can also benefit by using the reports in HIPs to inform their valuations, which may reduce time and cost for all parties!
What are searches?
The searches listed in a HIP will show, amongst other things, anything from planning applications to whether the roads have been adopted and whether your drains are connected to the main sewer. They will also occasionally show trees that have Tree Preservation Orders attached to them. There are also environmental searches available if requested but these are not compulsory within the HIPs.
What is Our Home Information Pack Service?
Our HIPs service offers you great quality service and value for money. We aim to be the most competitively priced provider and will offer to beat any genuine quote you have already received for a similar Pack, i.e. the quote to beat must include the same Pack contents as we are offering, or more.
