Understand Home Information Packs or HIPs
Home Information Pack (HIP) also referred as the ‘Seller’s Pack is a set of documents carrying essential information about the property (in England and Wales) of an owner who intends to sell his/her property in open market. It contains important documents for such as Sale Statements, Energy Performance Certificate, title documents, local authority searches etc.
Initially the concept of Home Information Packs surfaced to counter the routine mismanagement and delay and other hassles involved in the process of buying/selling home. The HIPs are also known to make the transactions faster and more explicit.
Home buying and selling was full of imperfections and gazumping until the introduction of Home Information Packs. Earlier the sellers used to have a tough time determining the exact price of the property and buyers suffered from lack of proper information. This information-gap was the main reason behind most of the property deal failures. According the reports an estimated loss of £350 million per year is entitled to unproductive home-sale attempts.
The Housing Act 2004 laid down the provision that every property-owner is obliged to produce an HIP before advertising his/her property. Thereafter, the state of affairs has undergone a commendable change resulting in a number of successful transactions. The accessible information makes it easier for a seller to quote a property.
On the other end, the uncomplicated proceeding also satisfied the buyers. The transparency offered by HIP allows no scope for any further re-negotiations and the exchange gets over in agreement with both the buyer and seller.
The HIP document information can be distinctly divided into two headings, the 'required' and the 'authorized'. A person who intends to sell his/her property should produce those HIP documents, which should incorporate the 'required' information. These genres of information include the Home information Pack Index, Sale Statement or Terms of Sale, Title Documents for the Property and Local authority and Drainage Searches. However, the person can produce only those documents that have been issued three months prior to the date; the property has been marketed for the first time.
In case the property is on leasehold, the seller has to produce some additional information along with the 'required' documents. These incorporate building insurance policy, contact details for the property owner or management, copy of the lease, recent service charge receipts, legal details, accounts and all applicable regulations.
Apart from the 'required' documents, the seller has to furnish 'authorized' information – Home Condition Report and Legal summary and other search reports (for example, mining search reports are case specific, depending on the area, etc). To avert any unexpected problems, the seller may also include the two questionnaire forms, Home Use Form and Home Content Form.
About the Author
Find Domestic Energy Assessors to supply your Energy Performance Certificate for your Home Information Pack at http://www.dealocal.co.uk
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