Lampthink Ltd. - What is a HIP?

Home Plan A Home Information Pack is a collection of information that needs to be assembled when you put a residential property on the market. Due to recent changes, any residential property in England or Wales put on the market from December 14th 2007 onwards will require a HIP. Also, all estate agents in England and Wales who market home with HIPs will be required to be registered with an independent arbitration service run by the Ombudsman of Estate Agents (OEA). Similarly, all HIPs providers must subscribe to the Home Information Pack Code and be registered with the Property Code Compliance Board. A HIP will consist of:-

A HIP Index (essentially a contents list of what 's in the HIP)
An Energy Performance Certificate or EPC (a software based calculation of the approximate energy costs for running the property, together with an indexed value of the property 's current energy efficiency and its potential energy efficiency after the relevant messures have been put in place.)
A Sale Statement (this gives the basic details of the property, such as name and address of owner, address of the property being sold and tenure, e.g. freehold or leasehold)
Evidence of title (usually the basic Land Registry registers and title plan)
Local and Drainage Searches (or a record of the fact that they have been ordered)

Homes can be marketed as soon as the HIP and its contents have been ordered - you don 't have to wait until the pack is delivered in order to get your home on the market.