After false starts and last minute changes Home Information Packs for residential properties are finally with us.

Save for certain exceptions, all residential properties marketed for sale since 15th December 2007 require a Home Information Pack.

Sellers who have marketed before then may be currently exempt for the requirement for a Home Information Pack but, in due course, the Government may appoint a date at which all properties on the market should be subject to the requirement for a Home Information Pack.

Some of the exceptions to the requirement for a Home Information Pack are:

• Certain properties to be demolished
• Certain residential properties sold together with other land or buildings which are used for non-residential purposes
• Certain newly built properties are exempt from the requirement for a Home Information Pack at the time of writing this article.
• Properties not available with vacant possession eg.- sold subject to an existing tenancy

A Home Information Pack should include: An Index; a Sales Statement; Land Registry Official copies; Land Registry title plan; a local search; a copy of the lease (if applicable);a water and drainage search and an Energy Performance Certificate. From 1st June 2008 further documentation will need to be added to the Pack.

At present Sellers can market their property for sale even though they do not have all of the above documents but this is a temporary relaxation of the regulation. The Seller will still have had to apply for such documents before marketing can begin.

Buyers are entitled to ask to see a copy of the Home Information Pack, although the Estate Agent may make a charge for providing this. Once in receipt of a Home Information Pack Buyers will no doubt want their Solicitors to explain the legal jargon contained in it and to seek the “missing information” that may not be currently required in a Pack but which a competent Conveyancer should seek to protect his clients’ interests.