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The Government has issued guidelines to clear up any confusion about the need for Home Information Packs (HIPs) when selling a house.

HIPs have been compulsory when selling houses of all sizes since December. However, many sellers and estate agents have since questioned what exactly constitutes the marketing of a house and whether informal or one-off viewings trigger the need to provide a HIP.

The Department for Communities and Local Government has issued a statement pointing out that the “a property is put on the market when the fact that it is available for sale is made public”.
That means when it is advertised to the public or a section of the public in any way. Even letting people know by word of mouth will count as marketing. 

However, one to one sales that do not involve any other person or marketing to the public are not included in the legislation.

The statement points out that when someone acting as an estate agent introduces a seller to a buyer then a HIP will be needed. “This means that the HIP duties will usually be triggered where an estate agent, as part of his business, arranges ‘informal or one-off viewings’ of a property that is available for sale, or communicates this availability by any means to anyone as part of an attempt to sell it.”

HIPs are still quite new so it is not surprising that there should still be some uncertainty about them. Please contact us on 0800 027 7870 if you would like more information about HIPs or any aspect of buying or selling a house.

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