Introduction
HIPs (Home Information Packs) went live on 1 August for four bedroom houses or larger, with smaller properties expected to be phased in before the end of the year. RICS has put together guidance on various aspects of the incoming regulations.

HIPs - Legislative Exceptions
RICS has also taken legal advice on the amended HIPs regulations. In general terms, a property should be marketed with a valid HIP including an EPC, however there are some circumstances where a HIP and/or an EPC may not be required in order to market a property. 

Properties marketed before 1 August 2007
Where a property is first marketed before 1 August 2007 but re-marketed afterwards because an offer has been withdrawn or repudiated, a HIP will not required.

This is subject to the condition that the property is put back on the market within 28 days of the offer being withdrawn or repudiated.

It is expected that the Government will lay further regulations specifying a ‘drop dead date’ by which time all properties will be required to have a HIP.

At present, we anticipate this date will be around March 2008.

Properties marketed before 1 January 2008
Before 1 January 2008, a property can be marketed without a HIP provided one has been requested.

The obligation to have a HIP arises once the person responsible obtains an EPC (Energy Performance Certificate).

This must be provided to the prospective purchaser before exchange in any event, but your efforts to obtain the EPC should be ongoing throughout the process, including:

• before the property is put on the market;
• within 28 days of the property being put on the market;
• and on a continuing basis thereafter.

Once the EPC is available the HIP must be provided as soon as possible.

Properties marketed after 1 January 2008
If a property is marketed after 1 January 2008 a HIP must be provided when the property goes on the market although this need not include an EPC if one has been requested but not yet provided.

As discussed above, you will need to make reasonable efforts to obtain the EPC within 28 days but it must be provided prior to exchange and inserted into the HIP.

In any case, it is important to note that there are overriding obligations to provide an EPC at the earliest opportunity.

CRB Checks
There has been much controversy surrounding the requirement for CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) checks for Domestic Energy Assessors.

RICS has taken legal advice on the issue and issued the following policy statement:

"Our policy is that we will carry out a CRB check ourselves for Home Inspectors as required by law and that we will require Domestic Energy Assessors to obtain a basic check from Disclosure Scotland, which is as much as we can do in law.

"Our legal advice states that it is appropriate for RICS to require its members wishing to be Domestic Energy Assessors to obtain the basic check as part of the assessment of their fit and proper status.

"However, we recognise that the information is limited by the basic nature of the check.

"In summary, it is RICS’ policy to require this check and we are likely to refuse an application without this information.

"Members of RICS are under a general obligation to inform RICS if they or a fellow member receive a conviction which could lead to a custodial sentence."

RICS qualification, accreditation and certification
RICS has facilities in place to qualify home inspector or domestic energy assessor.  Further information on qualification can be found from www.rics.org/safeas.

We also have facilities to certify home inspectors and accredit domestic energy assessors.

Further information on the schemes can be found on the RICS Domestic Energy Assessors Register page and the RICS Home Inspectors page on the left hand side of this page. 

Surveyors Ombudsman Service
The Surveyors Ombudsman Service has been approved by BERR (formerly DTI) for HIPs redress for estate agents. 

It is also open to all firms regulated by RICS at no cost in its first year of operation.  There is no joining process; firms need only let their clients know that they are using the scheme.

Therefore those estate agency firms wishing to use the scheme as their redress mechanism for HIPs and/or any other complaints need do nothing more than include the name of the Surveyors Ombudsman Service within their complaints handling procedure.

Fees for subsequent years of the scheme will be based on experience in the scheme’s first year and are expected to be highly competitive.  You can visit the website via the link on the right of this page.

A help sheet on Redress is available from the PDF Downloads panel on this page.

For further information on these issues, email RICS Regulation regulation@rics.org or call +44 (0)20 7695 1670.

Judicial review
The Judicial Review application is stayed at the time of writing this (end of July). The basis of RICS’ agreement with government when the Court made an order in RICS’ favour at the end of May, was that there would be proper consultation on the life span of an EPC (within the range of 10 years, permitted by the directive and three months, in the context of HIPs).

The government will also publish a full regulatory impact assessment on the issue. If these documents fail to address the issues or appear to prejudge them, RICS has the option to reopen the challenge. 

In the meantime, RICS has not formed a view on the lifespan issue – the point being that there has, to date, been no evidence on which to base a view.

Guidance
There are a number of pieces of guidance available:

• The Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG) have put together procedural guidance on the HIP regulations.
  See PDF Downloads)
  
  
• CLG have also put together a leaflet on the information required for leasehold properties.
  (See PDF Downloads) 
  
  
• Asset Skill has produced guidance on handling HIPs in conjunction with RICS, NAEA and AHIPP. The guidance, available on RICS.org,  is based on the original Home Information Pack regulations and will be updated during the transitional period.