From 6th April all new build homes must have a Home Information Pack including an energy performance certificate and recommendation report (EPC) when physically complete (i.e. has a completion certificate from Building Control). These are broadly similar to the standard HIP reports for all other properties which comprise: a sale statement, evidence of title, standard searches and energy performance information and where appropriate additional information for leasehold and commonhold sales. The point of the EPC is to make all potential buyers and tenants aware of the energy efficiency of a property and how it can be improved. With new build homes some of the practicalities are challenging as not all the information that would be contained in the full search will necessarily be available when marketing starts. It may be that there will be another Government U-turn on the legislation – who knows...? We advise everyone to keep checking. More information is available from:

http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/planningandbuilding/epcsbuildersguide

In addition from 1st June a complete HIP must be in place prior to the marketing of any property (not simply commissioned). Strutt & Parker are alerting those planning on putting their houses on the market that HIPs now need to be available in advance of pressing the button on the go-ahead to market their properties. The length of time it takes for a HIP to be forthcoming will depend on the local authority – this seems generally to be within a week, although agents have reported up to a month in some areas!

James Lawrie of Strutt & Parker Davies Street office comments: “Home Information Packs are here and they are here to stay so we just have to get on with them. They are relatively straightforward and there seems to be negligible resistance to it from vendors once we have made them aware that it is compulsory.

“ ‘68% of estate agents interviewed said that they have never had any request to view the contents of a HIP from prospective buyers!!’ (source NAEA press release). Although we support it in principal, the original concept of the Home Information Pack was as a tool to help speed up the process of selling by making it more transparent and hence to reduce transaction failures. Now its principal function seems to centre around the EPC. Most of our buyers simply don’t see any advantages and it rarely aids or influences their purchase decision – if a house you want to buy has a low EPC rating is it really going to sway your decision...? I suspect not”.