HIPs - An Introduction 
Home Information Packs (HIP’s) became law on August 1, 2007. If you are marketing your property publicly for sale, then you must have a HIP already inplace or ordered. This is not he case if you are not placing your property on the open market, i.e. if you are selling direct to your uncle or brother etc.

There is no obligation on sellers to buy a pack from an estate agent or a solicitor. You can produce your own, or use one of the emerging Independent HIP suppliers and save potentially hundreds of pounds.
Regardless of who compiles the pack, there are certain forms that must be included in a home information pack. (Required Documents)
These are:-

1) An official INDEX of your home information pack.
(download from here)
2) An official SALE STATEMENT.
(download from here)
3) And EPC (energy performance certificate).
(request from here)
4) Official copies of the REGISTERED TITLE
(obtain from www.LandRegistry.org.uk)
5) Official copies of the TITLE PLAN
(obtain from www.LandRegistry.org.uk)
6) Local LAND CHARGES SEARCH (LLC1)
(obtain from your local council authority)
7) Local ENQUIRIES SEARCH (CON29)
(obtain from your local council authority)
8) DRAINAGE & WATER SEARCH (CON29DW)
(This can be obtained from your water company)

Also

• New Homes Warranty i.e. NHBC or Zurich (only applicable if property still has benefit of this)
• Home report for partly built property (only applicable for part built homes)
• Leasehold Information (only applicable if property is leasehold)
• Commonhold Information (only applicable if property is commonhold)

Additionally, you can also include the following 2 items..
9) HOME USE FORM
(download from here)
10) HOME CONTENTS FORM
(download from here)

There are also various voluntary documents that you can include in your Home Information Pack. You do not have to include these but if you think it may help in marketing your house then you may think it’s worthwhile to include them.
These are:-

• Home Condition Report
• Guarantee’s and Warranties i.e. for structural works or for newly fitted boiler
• Further searches i.e. Mining, Environmental.

HIP packs are relatively simple to put together. It's just a matter of knowing where to find the relevant forms, how to fill them in and then where to send what forms.
The estimated costs of what a typical HIP breaks down as, follows:-
£80 - Energy Performance Certificate (request here)
£100 – Search Fees (Local Authority) – Can vary
£45 – Drainage and Water Search – (- Can vary)
£10 – Land Registry Fees

Step 1). The Index 
This is the first page of your Home Information Pack although you will probably not be able to complete it until last.
The Index Document is available Here (Opens a seperate window)
The first box to complete is the property address. You need to type in the address of the property for sale in the box at the very top of the page (see Index pdf Thread).
At the bottom of the first page there are two tick boxes. 
These boxes are to confirm that you (the seller) have completed the form or have instructed someone else to complete the form and that the answers in the form are to the best of your knowledge.
It’s important to note that if you tick these boxes and knowingly give false information any buyer who relies on this information may be able to take legal action against you. You must tick these boxes because if a buyer sees that you haven’t ticked these boxes they will not want to rely on the form and you may lose your sale.
The form then goes on to a check list format listing all the documents to be included in the Home Information Pack.
It is arranged into four parts, 
General – required documents, 
commonhold – required documents, 
leasehold required documents and
authorised documents (voluntary).
You need to tick the box next to each, every time you are including the relevant document, and type in the date of the document. If for any reason you are not including the document you can type the reason in the box at the side.
You can tick the first box for the index and insert the date that you finished the index in the box below.

Step 2). The Energy Performance Certificate 
The main unavoidable cost is the energy performance certificate, which must be carried out by a qualified, accredited and Insured Domestic Energy Assessor and will cost somewhere between £80 and £120 depending on the property type.
The Energy Performance Certificate tells you how energy efficient the home is on a scale of A-G. The most efficient homes, which should have the lowest running costs, are in band A.
The Certificate also tells you, on a scale of A-G, about the impact the home has on the environment. Better rated homes should have less impact through Carbon Dioxide emissions.
Once you have this you can check the box for energy performance certificate report and mark the date of the document on your index. Example EPC

Click here to request an EPC

What happens during the EPC assessment?
The assessor will have a photo card id which he/she will show you.
The assessment is non-invasive –no drilling, no panels removed, no disturbance to the fabric of your home and photographs will usually be taken but should not be made public.
• The assessment will last for around 1 hour depending on property size
• Measurements of the exterior and/or interior of the home
• Visual inspection of the exterior and interior of the home
• Visual; inspections of each room within the home
o The type of glazing in the windows
o The light fixtures
o Any fires and/or heaters
o A visual inspection of the heating system
o The boiler
o The hot water storage cylinder (if present)
o The systems controls (radiator and room thermostats etc)
• A visual inspection of any fireplaces or secondary heating systems
• A visual inspection of the gas/electricity meters/oil/bulk gas tanks
• A visual inspection of the loft insulation
• An inspection of any other energy related products
• Basements and cellars will also be inspected (if present)
• Corridors and adjacent stairwells of flats will also be inspected
The home owner may be asked to fill out a questionnaire giving some details about the property.
At this time it will be advisable to have any guarantees for any works done to the home available for inspection, any information about your home’s heating, double glazing system and refurbishment works that have added extra insulation will help establish your property’s energy rating.

FREEHOLD/LEASEHOLD 
Different properties are held under different tenures. Most houses are freehold properties whereas most flats are leasehold properties.
A freehold is simple you own everything above and below your property. No one else can claim an interest in your property. There is really nothing more to cover on freeholds.
A leasehold is usually created where there are multiple properties within the same building, grounds, boundaries etc. The reason being is there may be shared parts of the property such as hallways, lifts, stairs etc that no one person can own.
There could also be a shared roof and shared gardens. As the entire building will need access to these parts then no one flat owner can own them so instead the freeholder (or landlord) will own these.
Contained in the lease will be clauses which govern the way you treat the property as well as govern what the landlord can and can't do. These are mainly to do with shared responsibilities for the upkeep of the shared areas as well as respecting your neighbours enjoyment of their home. For instance there may be a clause in your lease to make you paint the front door of your flat every year and to not play loud music after 9. Every lease is different.
The lease will also include provisions as to ground rent and service charges. Ground rent is usually payable annually and can be as little as a peppercorn (in law ground rent can't be nothing so a peppercorn is a legal way of making it for nothing, it's doubtful that the landlord will actually come round and demand his peppercorn) to £1,000's. The ground rent may also have an escalator clause which allows the landlord to increase it at certain points in the lease's life. A service charge is a contribution to the maintenance of the grounds. Again this figure varies from property to property.
When creating lease's the landlord will usually choose nice round numbers such as 99 years, 100 years or even 999 years. Although if you are buying an existing leasehold some of this term may have been used up. Mortgage Lenders generally require the term of the mortgage plus 20-30 years left on the lease before they will lend money on the property.

3). The Sale Statement
The Sale Statement should provide some basic information about the sale, including:
The name of the seller and the address of the property being sold
Whether it is freehold or leasehold
Evidence of title (whether the title is registered or unregistered).
A copy of the Sale Statement can be downloaded Here (opens a seperate window) 

4). Title Plan     5). Register
For most properties, the pack should include official copies from Land Registry of the Register and the Title Plan:
The Property Register provides a brief description of the property and whether it is freehold or leasehold. For leasehold properties, the number of years remaining on the lease should be stated. You may wish to look at the Title Plan to check that it shows the boundaries of the property as you understand them to be.
The Proprietorship Register states who is currently registered as owning the property. A title which is described in the Property Register as “absolute” (for either freehold or leasehold) or “good” (which applies to leasehold only) should have the best classes of title. If the title is described as “qualified” or “posessory”
you may wish to seek legal advice as to whether someone other than the registered owner has a claim to the property. If there are other documents referred to in these registers, you or your legal adviser may be able to obtain full copies or summaries of these documents from the Land Registry.
The Land Registry (landregistry.gov.uk) will supply evidence of title for £3 and the title plan, again £3. After that, costs vary according to each local authority.

Unregistered - Lease - Tenancy or Licence 
If your property is unregistered, which will be confirmed by the index map search result, then you need to enclose deduction of title documents. This is another way of saying title deeds. Your title deeds could be with your lender or your solicitor or maybe even you hold them.
Without being an experienced conveyancer it’s difficult to know what counts as a title deduction. However an easy rule to follow is to include the document that transferred the property from one owner to the next going back 15 years.
These documents then should be listed under number 8 of the HIP Index. 
If your property is registered you do not need to include anything under here and you can quote your reason as ‘registered property’.
Leases, Tenancies or Licenses
Number 9 of the HIP Index gives a requirement for any shorthold tenancies, leases etc to be included. If your property isn’t rented out and you have full possession and occupation then you can quote simply ‘not applicable’. 

Local Search
There are two compulsory searches that need to be included in the home information pack. These are the local search and the drainage search.
Local Land Charges & Local Enquiries
The local search is split into two parts, the LLC1 (land charges search) and the CON29 (local enquiries).
Each local council has a different price for completing these searches so contact your local council and find out the cost of the LLC1 and CON29 search as well as the address to send it to.
6). LLC1  (land charges search)
This will show up information on your property relating to conditional planning consents, conservation area, tree preservation orders, Council grants that may need to be repaid, agreements and identification of the property as a building of special architectural or historical interest amongst other things.
A pdf version of this form is available Here.
7). CON29 (local enquiries)
The CON29 deals with planning, highways, environmental health, housing, building control.
CON29 includes the following
• All entries on the Local Land Charges Register
• All Planning Decisions (pending and decided)
• Planning Designations and Proposals within a radius of 200m of the property.
• Road Adoption status
• Highway Schemes
• Any other relevant schemes and notices

8). Drainage & Water Search 
The drainage search is sent to the water authority in charge of the area. 
Information by this search will tell you whether the property is connected to the mains and drains, a map of sewers within the boundary of the property and whether the property is on a water metre.
Drainage & Water Report (CON29DW) is provided by the various local water companies in England and Wales. CON29DW report reveals details of water and sewerage assets under and around properties allowing solicitors to determine if properties are properly serviced and to identify any liabilities that owners may incur.
Residential Drainage & Water Search CON29DW - includes all the essential water and sewer information surrounding your property including:
• If the property is served by public sewers 
• If the property is connected to mains water 
• Whether there are water mains located within the boundaries of the property 
• Which company supplies the water 
• What is the basis for charging for sewerage and mains water supply

Additional documents:

9 & 10). Home Use and Home Contents forms.

Home use and home contents forms let sellers give buyers information on a range of matters relating to the property.
These include information on boundaries, notices, services, sharing with neighbours, planning permissions and other matters of interest to potential buyers.
It is usual for sellers to declare which fixtures and fittings and other contents of the property are included in the sale, are excluded from the sale, or are subject to negotiation.

Other Voluntary Documents 
There are other searches but it's rare these will be needed. However if you are one of the people who require one of these searches make sure your conveyancer explains what it is they are recommending and what the results will tell you.
ENVIRONMENTAL SEARCH
With recent scare stories such as the theory that radiation from pylons gives you cancer these searches have become more popular recently.
These searches are generally provided by various private companies and your conveyancer should recommend which one is best for you. The different searches provide different information but basically they will tell you of any potential environmental hazards in the area. These may include electricity sub stations, landfills and businesses dealing with hazardous chemicals. However just because there may be a landfill near the home you are buying it doesn't mean you need an environmental search as it will only confirm the landfill is there which is money wasted. However if you don't know much about an area it's worthwhile getting one of these searches done. If your only moving one street away and your confident you know the area then think twice before spending your hard earned cash.
COMMONS SEARCH
This search is submitted to the local council. It basically asks 2 questions. Is the property on the register of common land? and is the property on the register of town or village greens?
MINING SEARCH
These searches vary drastically from area to area. There are various forms of mining searches but chances are if there's a history of mining in the area where your purchasing your house then there's a mining search to cover it. The most common types of searches are coal, tin & china clay.

Completing your HIP
Of course, after all this work you will want your HIP to look as great as possible. After all, your potential purchasers won't show too much interest in a scraggy old HIP. Pop down to Staples and purchase a tidy folder to put it all into.

Please link to us :    http://www.homestandards.co.uk

Some properties do not require home information packs : {click here}

For more info : Please click on the link below to read what the government website has to say...
http://www.homeinformationpacks.gov.uk/consumer/65_How_do_I_compile_my_own_Pack.html