Home Information Packs are a Government led initiative,
which became law during 2007.

From the 1st of January 2008 all houses offered for sale will need a ‘responsible person’ to be in possession of a Home Information Pack, which must be made available to all people wishing to buy a house. In the vast majority of cases the responsible person will be the Estate Agent. The pack must have been commissioned prior to marketing the property.

The pack is designed to allow a prospective purchaser access to more information about a property before making an offer. It will help reduce wasteful and abortive costs on surveys and specialist reports and will allow sales to be processed much more speedily than the present system allows.

HIPs are only required for residential property and do not apply to Farms, Smallholdings, Commercial property, mixed commercial / residential and permanent investment property. This list is not exhaustive.