RICS claims legal loophole in Home Information Packs

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors has claimed to the government that the rules governing Home Information Packs only require that such an information pack be in process before listing and selling a home, and that if the home sold quickly enough the pack need not have been completed. RICS says that the only component of the pack required to be in place before the sale is the energy performance certificate.

A spokesman for the Department for Communities and Local Government denied that the loophole, which RICS said meant that if the house sold fast enough the seller would not have to pay for the pack, exists. He said that the rules state that homes can be put on the market with the HIP still on order, but that all requirements must be in place before the sale goes through.

The controversial information packs, which must include not only the energy certificate but evidence of title, guarantees for any work done on the property and other information, were originally to have been required from 1 June but were postponed to 1 August and then will only be required on houses containing four or more bedrooms. The government still plans to require them for all homes offered for sale at some point.

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