Home Information Packs are launching on 1 June 2007 to help improve the home buying and selling process.
The Home Information Pack is a set of documents providing important information about a property, such as its energy efficiency, boundary ownership and planning permissions. Although available now voluntarily, Home Information Packs become compulsory from 1 June 2007 in England and Wales to improve home buying and selling for the consumer, and as part of wider action to cut carbon emissions from homes. This means every person selling their home after this date must provide potential buyers with a Home Information Pack. The Home Information Pack includes an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) plus searches and other legal documents.
It was originally intended that the Vendor would provide the Surveyor’s report which would be known as a Home Condition Report. This would be relied upon by the buyer and their mortgage lender. However, it is no longer a compulsory part of the Home Information Pack. A Vendor may however choose to supply a Home Condition Report to provide information that may be of interest to a prospective buyer. However, it is likely that the Buyer and/or their mortgage lender will still require their own survey on the property.
Buying and selling a property doesn’t always go according to plan. The reality is that nine out of 10 people say that they are unhappy with the current process. Home Information Packs will hopefully counteract this situation.
Better Buying
Buying a home can be like trying to find your way through a legal, financial and administrative jungle. Currently, buyers have to make a formal offer before seeing important information about a property.
The Government’s new Home Information Packs will make it compulsory for anyone marketing a home for sale from 1 June 2007, to make this essential information available up front.
Simpler Selling
Selling a home can be stressful and prone to delays and failure under the current system. Currently one in four property transactions break down due to information coming to light after a formal offer has been made. Home Information Packs will reduce this costly inefficiency and make selling simpler.
Both sellers and buyers will benefit from the Home Information Packs.
Benefits of Home Information Packs
The Home Information Packs will directly address:
- Consumer satisfaction - nearly nine out of 10 consumers are dissatisfied with the present process
- Transparency - at present, key information about the property only becomes available after terms of the sale have been agreed
- Sale success rates - 28 per cent of property sales fail after terms have been agreed
- Costs - failed transactions currently cost consumers over £350m a year
- Speed - transactions currently run at half the speed of the European average
- Reliability – 60 per cent of property sales are in chains. Delay or failure in one has a knock-on effect through the chain.