Home Information Packs now law for 3-bedroom houses

Permalink: Home Information Packs now law for 3-bedroom houses
by Kay Murchie

From 10 September, Home information packs (Hips) will be required for all homes with 3 bedrooms. If the person marketing the property or the seller for private selling, fails to produce a Hip, they will be subject to a £200 fine for every instance they are caught marketing without a Hip.

All 3-bedroom properties on the housing market before 10 September 2007 are exempt until 1 January 2008, provided they have been continuously on the market up to that time. If marketing is stopped for any period after 10 September, even for just 1 day, a Home Information Pack is required.

Hips have been introduced to provide more information to buyers about the state of properties on the market. A pack was required for all homes with at least 4 bedrooms from August 1 onwards.

Ultimately, all homes will require a Hip but the scheme is still subject to criticism with moneysupermarket.com again calling for the government to acknowledge its errors. Moneysupermarket.com said the government should admit that Hips are a disaster.

According to the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA), Hips were initially supposed to include a Home Condition Report (HCR) but this is now an optional extra and is not being taken up by the majority of sellers of UK property.

Finally, Abbey said that millions of homeowners are exploiting a loophole in the Hips system in order to avoid purchasing them. However Abbey warned that this could harm their house’s saleability.