Currently Home Information Packs are a mandatory requirement for all residential properties being put on the market for sale. Marketing of a property cannot begin until a Home Information Pack has been commissioned. A HIP includes an index, an energy performance certificate, a sale statement, evidence of title, results of local searches and where relevant leasehold information. A HIP can also included additional “Authorised Documents” that will be useful to buyers and the sales process.

If a property was first marketed before the full HIP implementation dates, it now requires an Energy Performance Certificate to be carried out. This document is necessary to exchange contracts. It is the sellers responsibility to provide an EPC and it is the seller who is liable for a fine for not providing one.