The Government introduced the Housing Act 2004 to fulfill its commitment to introduce Home Information Packs (HIPs) in England and Wales. The rolling out of HIP's commenced in August 2007 and now all properties put on the market require a pack to be produced.

The pack will include a mandatory report on the Energy Efficiency of the home and an authorised report on the condition of the home – the Home Condition Report (HCR).

The  purpose of the Home Condition Report  is to provide an objective report on the condition of a property offered for sale that can be relied on by all parties involved, the seller, buyer and lender. The report will be a ‘mid-range’ report based on an inspection similar in depth to the current Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Homebuyers Survey and Valuation (HSV), although the HCR will not include a valuation for sale but will include a rebuilding cost for insurance purposes.

The report will be written by fully qualified Home Inspectors in non-technical language that all parties can understand and will contain a rating scale of 1 to 3 for elements of the building to highlight problems with the property.

The layout of the report is as follows:

A - GENERAL INFORMATION
B - SUMMARY
C - CONVEYANCING AND HEALTH & SAFETY ISSUES
D - OUTSIDE CONDITION
E - INSIDE CONDITION
F - SERVICES
G - GROUNDS
H - ENERGY PERFORMANCE CERTIFICATE

The detailed inspection process involves taking comprehensive site notes and photographs and each element is given a condition rating of 1 to 3.

1. No repair is needed. Normal maitenance must be carried out.
2. Repairs or replacements are needed but the Home Inspector does not consider these to be serious or urgent.
3. These are defects which are either serious and/or require urgent repair or replacement.

The legislation will restrict preparation of the HCR to persons who are members of a certification scheme approved by the Secretary of State. This is to ensure that preparation of the reports is restricted to suitably qualified and competent Inspectors who have Professional Indemnity Insurance in place.

The HCR is a very useful tool to demonstrate to prospective buyers the overall condition of a property using easy to understand terms. You will find pricing information using the Price List link. Please call 01344 867155 or email us using the Contact Us link on the left for further information.