Home Information Packs Scrapped with Immediate Effect

(Energy Performance Certificates are still required)

The new coalition Government has announced that from 21st May 2010, the requirement for Home Information Packs will be suspended for anyone selling their home. However, Energy Performance Certificates, that had formed part of the HIP, are still required.

HIPS were first introduced in August 2007 for properties with four or more bedrooms in England and Wales, before being gradually rolled out across the rest of the market. From April last year, home owners in England and Wales had to have one of the packs in place before they could begin marketing their home.

A clause in the 2004 Housing Act has allowed Communities Secretary Eric Pickles to suspend home information pack duties immediately but outright abolition will require primary legislation that the Government promises to do as soon as is practicable.

HIPS aimed to reduce the amount of time it took to buy and sell a home by providing buyers with more of the information they needed up front, such as local authority searches. The burden of paying about £150 to £200 for searches from local authorities and search companies will now fall on house buyers, which although adding costs for first-time buyers is a relatively small amount in the context of overall transaction costs.

Gillian Charlesworth, a director at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, said: "HIPs have failed to address the significant problems in the home buying process they were originally supposed to tackle and we are pleased that one of the first acts of the new Government has been to clearly show their intention to abolish them. Taking a swift decision will have minimized the impact on the market and ensured that estate agents who stick to the rules will not lose out."

Estate agents claimed the packs, which typically cost between £299 and £350, were actually stunting the housing market recovery, as they deterred people from putting their home on the market just to test the water. There is also little evidence that the packs have benefited consumers, with 91% of estate agents saying they thought consumers paid little or no attention to them.

Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs)

The Energy Performance Certificate, which ranks the energy efficiency of a home with A to G ratings, will be retained in line with the Government's commitment to greener housing. Sellers will need to have commissioned but not necessarily received an EPC before marketing can start. However the seller and agent must use all reasonable efforts to ensure that the EPC is available within 28 days of the property going on the market. An EPC is valid for 10 years from the date that it is prepared.

The legislation is contained in the Energy Performance of Buildings (Certificates and Inspections) (England and Wales) Regulations 2007 (as amended by the Energy Performance of Buildings (Certificates and Inspections) (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2010).

Trading Standards are responsible for enforcing these requirements and there are financial penalties for non-compliance.