Home Information Packs - Selling a House?

Home Information Packs – Sanderson Young

This guide will help you understand the new legislation of HIPs (Home Information Packs) as a result of the Housing Act 2004. As you would expect, at Sanderson Young, we have taken every step to ensure that you have the best possible understanding about HIPs and how it will affect your sale. In very simple terms, we fully intend that there will be no impact as to how we will bring your house to the market. Once you instruct Sanderson Young to sell your home, you will be able to relax, safe in the knowledge and peace of mind that we are organising everything required for you.

We have also taken the opportunity to provide added value to your HIP, going further than the basic requirement, and therefore making a real difference to the process.

We can guarantee the speed and accuracy of the EPC (Energy Performance Certificate), via our own dedicated DEA (Domestic Energy Assessors), who are inspecting only Sanderson Young properties, and are all building surveyors with many years experience.

Trusted local Solicitors have agreed to work with us to offer you discounted legal fees and assistance in understanding your HIP by highlighting any issues that may arise at the very beginning of the process, in a free seller’s legal review of your pack. Finally, we will advise on what additional information that isn’t included in the HIP, but will be required by the buyer if they are actually going to be able to shorten the length of time it takes to buy your home.

By helping you take these extra steps, we believe that a real difference in the home moving process can be achieved, with the benefits of speed of transaction and greater certainty that once we have found a buyer, your sale will successfully proceed.

What is a Home Information Pack?

A HIP is designed to create a more transparent and efficient market place. It is designed so that important information about your property is available to your buyers and yourself early in the selling process, drawing attention to any issues before they can delay a transaction or lead to the sale falling apart. The documents that will form part of the pack come under two headings; those that are mandatory and those that are optional.

Mandatory Documents:

An Index (a list of the contents of the pack)
A Sale Statement (summarising the terms of sale)
Evidence of Title
Standard Searches (local authority enquiries and any drainage and water search)
An EPC (Energy Performance Certificate)
Where appropriate Common Hold Information (inc. a copy of the common hold community statement)
Where appropriate Leasehold information (inc a copy of lease information and service charge insurance)
Where appropriate a New Homes Warranty
Where appropriate a report on a home that is not physically complete

Optional Documents:

Any guarantees and warranties
Other searches
Home condition report

What is an EPC (Energy Performance Certificate)?

An EPC will provide your home with an A - G rating, similar to that on a fridge or other domestic appliance. It will also list practical measures to cut your fuel bills and carbon emissions. By acting on these recommendations the average home owner is expected to save £300 a year on fuel bills (source: The Energy Saving Trust) to help reduce 27% of the UK's Carbon emissions generated by our homes.

What is a HCR (Home Condition Report)?

The HCR is now an optional part of the pack. An HCR contains information about the physical condition of your property, which you, and your buyers, would be able to legally rely on as an objective and authoritive report. The Government believes there are significant benefits in adding the HCR to your pack as it will give greater certainty about your property and, therefore, sales will complete quicker.

What are the added values of a Sanderson Young HIP?

Sanderson Young has spent a considerable length of time, firstly understanding HIPs, and then the best way for us to work with them, to ensure they truly make a difference to your sale. At Sanderson Young it is very much business as usual, adding value to the sale of your home with our experience and commitment. Bearing this in mind, we have compiled the 3 best options for producing your HIP, and what is contained within it. Below are some of the reasons differentiating the Sanderson Young HIP and sales process from all the others:

All our EPCs will be carried out by our own local consultant DEAs, guaranteeing all reports will be carried out quickly & efficiently.
All our DEAs are practicing Building Surveyors with many years experience.
Our DEAs are able to offer you practical and sensible advice whilst at your home.
We will provide links with organisations that can help improve your home i.e. Energy Saving Trust.
We have hand picked trusted local solicitors to act for you, and have negotiated, on your behalf, reduced legal fees, saving you money.
These solicitors will draw up, free of charge, a pack review, which will highlight any aspects they feel should be looked at now, to save time later in the process.
Our HIP provider works for many like minded estate agents that are linked through our Mayfair Office network. This ensures they are experienced in dealing with homes like yours.
Our HIP provider is happy to work with a solicitor of your choice, if you would prefer.
We have drawn up 3 options in order that you can decide on the service you require from us and what, ultimately, is part of your HIP, giving you the choice and not just offering the very basics the Government requires.
We recommend additional documents that can go into the HIP which is the only way of actually improving the current conveyancing times.

For further information please contact Sanderson Young