April 7th 2006

PROTECTING HOME BUYERS

There is good news on the horizon for house buyers. The Association of Home Information Pack Providers will be launching in

2007 Home Information Packs, (HIPs) designed to help support and protect home buyers.

The HIP will contain all information essential to buying property, helping to reduce the risk of transaction failure, as well as ‘gazumping’ and ‘gazundering’. Crucial information can be identified immediately, reducing costs and stress to house buyers.  People need full, accurate and trustworthy information, especially in a housing market where the biggest investment and financial commitment of our lives are made.

The HIP will contain a Home Condition Report,(HCR) compiled by qualified Home Inspectors, detailing the quality of the property in question.  The HIP will encourage sellers to maintain and improve the quality of their property prior to selling.

New home builders have an incentive to improve the quality of their work as the NHBC guarantee for all properties under 10 years will be contained in the HIP, helping improve the quality of the Country’s housing.

First time buyers will have the most to gain as the costs they bear for searches will be met by the seller, and valuation costs will reduce substantially reducing the overall costs. HIPs will also provide buyers with information on the potential costs of repairs as well as running costs.

And finally HIP, through the Home Condition Report, will also meet one of the most important environmental obligations in today’s world, an energy performance certificate.