6 th April 2009 brings some changes to the HIP requirements on a house sale. Now a Property Information Questionaire has to be part of the HIP itself rather than relying on the property information forms supplied by solicitors as part of the contract package.
A HIP is now required for all sales of residential properties unless it falls within Part 6 of The Home Information Pack (No.2) Regulations 2007 for which see: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2007/uksi_20071667_en_5 There are in effect 9 possible exceptions for practical purposes.
The cost of a HIP is likely to rise in certain areas due to the fact that Local Authorities have been able to introduce new charges based on the cost of recovery of data for the Local Enquiry form.