The new coalition government has today announced the scrapping of HOME INFORMATION PACKS (HIPs).

Sellers will no longer be required to have the HIPs prepared before marketing their properties.

Having abandoned the HIPs programme, the Government is today (21 May) introducing new legislation - the “Energy Performance of Buildings (Certificates and Inspections) (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2010” which will introduce a number of new requirements relating to the provision of Energy Performance Certificates (EPC’s) including:

- a new duty on the seller to secure that an energy performance certificate (EPC) has been commissioned before marketing of the property commences where no such certificate is already available

· an EPC has been commissioned when a Domestic Energy Assessor has been instructed to prepare the EPC and the EPC has either been paid for or has given a clear undertaking to pay for it

· a new duty on the person acting on behalf of the seller (meaning the estate agent) to be satisfied that an EPC has been commissioned before commencing marketing

· a new duty on both the seller and a person acting on their behalf to make reasonable efforts to secure an EPC within 28 days

· all of the new duties carry fixed penalties where somebody fails in the duty conferred on them by the new regulations as early as possible or at least before you enter a contract for sale or rental.

· The EPC is valid for 10 years

Housing minister Grant Shapps declared: "Today the new Government is ensuring that home information packs are history.

"By suspending home information packs today, it means that home sellers will be able to get on with marketing their home without having to shell out hundreds of pounds upfront.
The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats pledged last week in their coalition agreement to get rid of the packs but sellers will bizarrely still need  Energy performance certificates (EPC), which show how energy efficient a property is.

Hips were first introduced in August 2007 for certain properties and by January 2008 they were compulsory for all properties in England and Wales.

By providing information at the beginning of a transaction, they aimed to reduce the amount of time it took to buy and sell a home and thus avoid waiting for the results of investigations such as local authority and water searches.

Property professionals have given the decision a mixed reaction. “We had all got used to the HIPs and, if fact, I believe that they did not go far enough” declares  Lambros Lambrou of YVA Solicitors: “They speeded the process up as far as the Freehold properties were concerned. Leasehold HIPs would have done the same if Management Information regarding service charge, statements and details as to future works had been included.

“It is now strange that they are being axed now that the initial pain felt during their introduction has been overcome.

“It will be interesting to see if it has an effect on the market. There may be more speculative sellers who were discouraged from testing the market previously because they needed to pay for a HIP. They may still be discourage by the £70 required for an EPC. We’ll see”


Should you have any queries in respect of the issues detailed please contact our property team.

Lambros Lambrou - YVA