What's in a Home Information Pack

In order to comply with the Home Information Pack requirements the pack has to contain the “Required Documents” .
• HIP for a Freehold property
• HIP for a Leasehold property
• HIP for a Commonhold property

Standard Contents of a HIP (“Required Documents”)

F All types of HIPs require the following “Required Documents “

HIP for a Freehold Property

A HIP for a freehold property will have to contain the standard “Required Documents” as above

HIP for a Leasehold Property

A HIP for a Leasehold Property will have to contain “Required Documents” as above. For Leasehold HIPS instructed before 1st June 2008, only a copy of the Lease and the office copy entries and filed plan of the leasehold title are variations from the standard “Required Documents”. After 1st June 2008 the Government will reintroduce the inclusion of the other leasehold information (click here for details of the leasehold information)

HIP for a Commonhold Property

A HIP for a Commonhold Property will have to contain standard “Required Documents” as above. In addition documents which must be included in the HIP for a commonhold property are:-
1. Office Copy Entries and filed plan of the unit being sold as well as individual Office Copy Entries and filed plan of the common parts of the property.
2. Office copy of the commonhold community statement
3. Any regulations or rules elating to the management of the commonhold
4. For the 12 months preceding the marketing of the property, the most recent requests for payment in relation to the charges relating to the commonhold management
5. Name and address of the managing agents or other person authorised by the commonhold to deal with the management of the commonhold property
6. Any amendments or proposed amendments to the regulations or rules to the community commonhold statement
7. Summary of any works or proposed works to the commonhold property

Additional Documents that may be included in a HIP

The Home Information Pack Regulations also allow for other documents to be included in the HIP which may assist a seller in selling the property and these are known as “Authorised Documents” . A seller cannot simply just add anything into the pack at his own free will and if a seller wishes to include further documents then they must be within the “Authorised” documents:-
• Copies of any documents referred to in the Legal Title
• Home condition report (“HCR”)
• Home use form (similar to the currently used form sellers property information form)
• Home contents form (similar to the currently used fixtures, fittings and contents form)
• Copies of any guarantees/reports
• Mining or brine searches
• Radon gas search, flood risk, contaminated land searches – can be carried out under one environmental search

Sellers may choose to incorporate this information in the HIP to provide further assistance to potential buyers and reduce the chance of buyer “drop out” from information appearing late on in the transaction.

Details of Standard Required Documents

Index

The Index is in a prescribed form of Index which the Government requires all HIPs to contain. It is used on a “tick” basis of what is enclosed in the HIP.

Sale Statement

The Sale Statement is in the prescribed form under the HIP Regulations. This statement contains details of the address and postcode of the property being sold and other information to include; whether property is flat or house, freehold or leasehold, type of construction of the property, sellers details including capacity to sell and confirmation that property being sold with vacant possession,

Energy Performance Certificate (EPC)

This is an energy rating carried out on the property by a qualified Energy Assessor. An Energy Performance Certificate and a report on any recommended works will be included. The Certificate will give the property an A-G green rating. This has the intention that it will cut fuel bills and carbon emissions from the property. The Government has announced that properties which have an energy rating of F-G which be offered a discount or free help with energy efficient measures by an organisation which is being set up to try and help with the cost of fuel bills and will be undertaken by Green Homes Services.

Official copy of register entries (“OCEs”) and filed plan

Since 1990, upon any sale of a property, it became a compulsory requirement that all properties in England and Wales must be registered on a Central Register at the HM Land Registry. In 1998 all other transfers of property came under the same requirements. All properties which are currently not registered at the HM Land Registry must be registered when the title to the property passes hands or if the property is charged or re-mortgaged.

The details which the Land Registry hold on the Register are produced on a document called Official Copy of Register Entries. These contain details of the Title Number (a number allocated specifically to the property or properties), the full address of the property and whether the property is freehold, leasehold or commonhold.

The name and the address of the proprietor are contained in the OCEs. They also contain details of any rights of way etc and also any rights reserved in relation to the property to any third party, details of any restrictive covenants (legal promises which must be adhered to in relation to the use of the property) and also details of any financial charges affecting the property.

Since 2002 there has been “dematerialisation” of Deeds in relation to the property i.e. in essence, the Lender no longer requires big bulks of deeds to protect their security as was the case many years ago, but now just need official copy of register entries. These are available to anybody wishing to obtain a copy of the legal title to the property. In essence you no longer need all of the old deeds to your property in order to sell or re-mortgage the property so long as your property is registered at the HM Land Registry. However, it is strongly recommended that any old deeds held in your possession are kept as these may be referred to in the legal title and if they are not available this could delay any sale and could prove to place additional expenses in relation to any duplicate or indemnity. The filed plan is a non-scale plan of the property which is based on the Ordnance Survey Map.

Index Map Search

If the property is not registered at the HM Land Registry then an Index Map Search is carried out at the HM Land Registry which would confirm that the property is currently unregistered (if this is the case).

Epitome of Title

An Epitome of Title is used for unregistered properties. If the property is unregistered there could be quite a bulk of documents in the legal title which should go back to the very first owner of the property and have all the documents showing each and every owner of the property up to the current owner (with hopefully no break in the chain which could query ownership up to the seller).

The Epitome of Title contains a complete list of the documents proving the legal title and also ownership of the property. Preferably the Epitome should go as far back as the original owner but in order that absolute title at the Land Registry (best class of legal title) can be obtained at least 15 years of continuous documents is required for a good and adequate legal title. The Epitome will also have details of the property and confirmation as to whether or not the original or a copy is being handed over on completion.

Local Search

This is a search of the local authority’s records including the local land charges register. The search report contains details of any orders over the property such as smoke control orders, breach of planning/building regulations requirements. It is also contains details of any planning permissions/building regulation approvals which may have been granted in relation to the property. The search also contains details such as whether the property is in a conservation area, whether there is a tree preservation order, road traffic schemes, whether the roads serving the property are highways maintainable by the Council and various other standard enquiries of the local authority. It is important to note that the search only covers the property itself and does not contain details of any neighbouring properties or surrounding areas.

Drainage and Water Search

This is a search of the Water Authority who is responsible for the water supply to the property. The search will contains details of whether foul water and surface water from the property drains into the public sewerage system, whether the property is connected to the mains water supply, whether there are any public sewers or drains in the boundaries of the property and which Water Company is responsible for collecting the water payments and sewerage payments on the property.

Other Leasehold documents

As stated above, from June 2008 all other leasehold information is required to be included in the HIP and forms part of the “Required Documents” i.e. the HIP does not comply with the regulations without the inclusion of these documents:-
• Any regulations or rules relating to the management of the property which have been made or are proposed by the Landlord or the Managing Agents who are appointed by the Landlord.
• 3 years statements of account for the service charges levied on the property.
• For the 12 months preceding the marketing of the property, requests for payment from the Landlord or the Managing Agents for service charges, ground rent, insurance and any other charges elating to the use of the property.
• Name and address of the Landlord, any Managing Agents or other person who may have been authorised to carry out the management of the property,
• Any amendments or proposed amendments to the Lease or to the regulations or rules relating to the management of the property.
• Any outstanding costs which may be due from the leaseholder towards any works in relation to the property to include details of the works and the liabilities due from the leaseholder.

Home Condition Report (“HCR”)

Originally the HCR was to be a “Required” document in the HIP but when the Government amended the Regulations in June 2007 the HCR was “dropped” to an “Authorised” document. However some Sellers may benefit from having an HCR contained within the HIP. The HCR contains more information in relation the property. An HCR must be carried out by a qualified Home Inspector (HI) and this can be ordered as additional item (at additional cost) if required, as part of the HIP pack.

The HCR will record the condition, problems and other factors for following matters:-
• Health and safety and other risks in relation to the property
• Exterior condition – chimneys, roofs, above ground drainage, main walls, windows, external doors, all other woodwork, claddings, external decoration and any other external items
• Internal condition – roof construction, ceilings, internal walls and plasterwork, floors, fire places and chimney breasts, built in fitments, internal woodwork, bathroom, dampness and other internal aspects
• Services – electric, gas, water, heating and drainage
• Grounds, boundaries and common facilities – garages,
• permanent sheds, other permanent buildings, boundary walls, paved areas, common facilities

The Report will either rate them as:-

(a) No repair presently required. Normal maintenance to be undertaken.
(b) Repairs are required but the HI does not consider these to be either serious or urgent.
(c) Defects of a serious nature or defects requiring urgent repair.

The HCR could therefore prevent the transaction falling through once an offer is accepted so the HCR will mean that the buyer may not have to obtain a Home Buyers Report (survey), thereby saving time in the actual conveyancing process and also prevent any surprises which may cause renegotiation of price or even withdrawal from the transaction as a result of the survey.