The Complete Hip Pack

The Complete Hip Pack is a Home Condition Report combined with a regular Home Information Pack. It goes into more detail about the condition of a property as a whole, providing both the seller and buyer with crucial information.

A Home Inspector inspects the inside and outside of the main building and all permanent outbuildings, and the parts of the gas, electricity and water and drainage services that can be seen. The Inspector gives each part of the structure of the main building a condition rating, to make the report easy to follow.

Why Is A Home Condition Report Considered So Important?   A Home Condition Report is definitely an advantage for a seller. The information helps them work up a proper marketing strategy and determine a reasonable asking price. Additionally, with HCR's sellers get a chance to fix or at least get some quotations for any defects/problems detected. This further helps the seller gain the confidence of the buyer and avoid delays and/or gazumping.

A Home Condition Report (HCR) is not mandatory but is widely considered an important part of the HIP, and should be considered for the following reasons.

The Home Condition Report is at the heart of the Home Information Pack and should be considered along with your HIP to form The Complete Hip Pack which we believe will help you sell your house. Government research indicates that almost 30 percent of transactions fail between offer acceptance and exchange of contracts, and that in over 40 percent of these cases this is due to survey related problems. That is why the Government wishes to include a Home Condition Report (HCR) in the Home Information Pack. The HCR is a thorough survey carried out be an independent surveyor and the report is completely unbiased to the seller or buyer. The report negates the need for the buyer to commission a building survey and in conjunction with HIP documents quickens the sale and therefore reduces the chances of a sale falling through. It has no relationship with the value or location of the property and it identifies defects and gives an indication of the urgency of the defect with the help of a simple condition rating system. View sample HCR [435 Kb] Including a HCR gives buyers less ground to re-negotiate as they will be made aware of any problems with the property and have all the information they need before making an offer. If you are a seller you are also likely to be a buyer. Would you not want to see an independent building survey of the house you are buying?

Further Information:

The Home Condition Report is designed to be an objective report on the condition of the property that can be relied upon by buyers, sellers and mortgage lenders. It will be written in Plain English in a standard format and will describe the general condition of the property taking account of its age, character and location and any defects or other matters requiring attention.

The Home Condition Report is designed to be a 'mid-range' survey, similar to the current Homebuyer Survey and Valuation - not as detailed as a Building Survey (sometimes known as a 'full structural survey') but a lot more extensive than a mortgage lender's valuation inspection.

The Home Inspector inspects the inside and outside of the main building and all permanent outbuildings, and the parts of the gas, electricity and water and drainage services that can be seen.

The Inspector gives each part of the structure of the main building a condition rating, to make the report easy to follow. The condition ratings are as follows:

The inspection is ‘non-invasive’. This means that the Home Inspector does not take up carpets, floor coverings or floorboards, move furniture or remove the contents of cupboards. Also, the Home Inspector does not remove secured panels or undo electrical fittings.