Home Information Pack advice

Planning on selling your home? Well, from 14th December 2007, if your property is based in England or Wales, you’ll now have to prepare a Home Information Pack (HIP) when putting it up for sale.

What are HIPs?

HIPs are designed to reduce the stress of both buying and selling a property by containing all of the essential information about the property upfront.

This way, it’s less likely that a sale will break down further down the line because of information coming to light (for example in a survey) after offers have been made.

There are compulsory and optional documents included in Home Information Packs. These are as follows:

Compulsory documents

  • Home Information Pack Index.
  • Energy Performance Certificate.
  • Sales statement.
  • Standard searches (local authority enquiries, drainage and water search).
  • Evidence of title.
  • Additional information for leasehold and commonhold sales, where appropriate.

Optional documents

  • Home Condition Report.
  • Legal summary.
  • Home use/contents forms.
  • Other documents.

Although all of the reports play a vital role in HIPs, the Energy Performance Certificate is worth highlighting for Londoners who are keen to get more involved in making their property more energy efficient, reducing waste or their carbon emissions.

Energy Performance Certificates

The Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) is an important part of the Home Information Pack, in that it tells prospective buyers about the energy performance of the property on sale.

Each EPC includes an energy efficiency rating (between A – G) which indicates the overall efficiency rating of a home, which is awarded by an accredited Energy Assessor after a visit to the property. The higher the rating, the more energy efficient it is.

The certificate also includes an environmental CO2 rating that indicates your home’s impact on the environment in terms of carbon dioxide emissions as well as the potential for improvement. The higher the rating, the less impact your property has on the environment.

D – E is the average for both the energy efficiency and CO2 ratings for properties in the UK.

Almost 50% of the UK’s carbon dioxide emissions come from the energy we use every day – at home and when we travel. These emissions contribute to climate change. So improvements to the energy efficiency of our homes, even small changes, could result in a significant reduction in these emissions.

Increase the value of your property

Research by the Energy Saving Trust shows that buyers are willing to pay up to £10,000 more for an environmentally friendly house, and that 70% consider energy efficiency to be important when buying a home.

So remember: the better your EPC rating, the more valuable your house will be.

By not making changes to your property, you could effectively be throwing money away!

Help and advice with EPCs

If you’re selling your house and have been issued with an Energy Performance Certificate as part of a Home Information Pack, or have recently purchased a new house and received an EPC with it, the Energy Saving Trust offers advice to help you understand the information within it.

Energy Saving Trust can explain the report, go through its recommendations and help you act on them, giving you information about grants, discounts and other incentives to make green changes to your home.

If you’d like to know how your house might score in a EPC before you put it on the market, contact the EST advice service for a free home energy check. They’ll also advise you on the most cost effective way to improve its energy performance before you put it up for sale.

You can talk to an Energy Saving Trust advisor in your area by calling freephone 0800 512 012.

For more info, visit the Energy Performance Certificates section of the Energy Saving Trust website.

Find out how financial incentives can make your home a greener home and get some helpful advice on recommended measures.