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F A C T S H E E T

Home Information Packs

What are home information packs?

From 1st June 2007 all sales of domestic property in England and Wales will have to be accompanied by Home Information Packs (HIPs). The only exceptions will be:

• properties which are not available with vacant possession
• properties which are in a private sale (such as those being sold between family members)
• properties which are sold together as a portfolio (but if any single property in the group is sold separately it will need a HIP)

Responsibility for having the pack will rest with whoever is marketing the property – whether that is the seller themselves or an estate agent on their behalf. A copy of the pack (or any individual documents in it) will have to be provided to any potential buyer within 14 days of a request although the seller will be within his rights to deny a copy to anyone who they don’t feel is a serious prospective purchaser. A small charge may be made for the cost of making a paper copy of the documents and the pack may include terms and conditions relating to disclosure of the information to third parties.