Home information packs (HIPs) are fundamentally redundant because new regulations do not require sellers to produce a HIP at the exchange of contracts, says the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).
RICS says the loophole in the HIP regulations published by the Department for Communities and Local Government means sellers need only prove they have ordered a HIP at the point of sale, not that they’ve actually acquired one. If a buyer is found and the property taken off the market before the HIP is produced, RICS says, the seller may never need to pay for it.
RICS spokesman Jeremy Leaf says: “Unless the government can show us the regulation that says a property cannot be sold without a HIP, consumers and industry will be left to draw their own conclusions.”
However, Rob Hailstone, chief executive of HIP provider Hipag Services, says a property can only be marketed without a HIP in place if requests for all legally “required” documents have been delivered before the property is put on the market.
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