Home Information Pack

Under Part 5 of the Housing Act 2004 a Home Information Pack (HIP, on lowercase letters: hip), sometimes called a Seller's Pack, was to be provided before a property in England and Wales could be put on the open market for sale with vacant possession. There is separate legislation for Scotland that requires anyone selling a property to provide a Home Report. The pack was a set of documents about the property: an Energy Performance Certificate, local authority searches, title documents, guarantees, etc. The introduction of HIPs was subject to delays and reduced requirements, but they became mandatory for homes with four or more bedrooms on 1 August 2007 and were extended to three-bedroomed properties from 10 September 2007.

The Government had suggested that Home Information Packs would lead to a reduction in the number of abortive sales as their justification for introducing the scheme, reducing gazumping and gazundering. They were introduced despite very strong opposition from some factions in the building industry (although very many were in favour of them) and estate agents, as well as some chartered surveyors. There were claims that the packs contributed to the 2007-09 housing crisis by deterring vendors from marketing their houses due to the extra costs involved in the survey.

Requirement for the Home Information Pack for property sales was suspended with effect from 21 May 2010 by the incoming government. An exception is that the Energy Performance Certificate is still required. The Localism Act 2011 formally repealed the Home Information Pack legislation on 15 January 2012.

As the idea of the Home Information Pack developed over time, so did the reasons for its introduction. A proposal to address the problem of gazumping was first made in the 1997 Labour Party manifesto. Research after the election revealed that around 28% of sales fell before exchange of contracts, with gazumping occurring in less than 2% of sales. The emphasis subsequently moved to the benefits of increased speed, transparency and consumer friendliness. The idea was based on similar practice used in Denmark.

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