No, a home information pack (HIP) is not needed to sell a house anywhere in the UK today. The government suspended the requirement in England and Wales on 21 May 2010, and the Localism Act 2011 later wiped the legislation from the statute book. What survived is the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC), which sellers still have to provide, while Scotland runs its own Home Report system that was never connected to the English pack. There is also a recent twist: in June 2026 the government committed to a new mandatory “sales pack”, so the thinking behind the HIP is coming back in a different shape.
What was actually inside a home information pack?
The pack was a bundle of documents that a seller in England or Wales had to commission before putting a home on the market, under Part 5 of the Housing Act 2004. The point was to move the cost and effort of gathering key information from the buyer’s side to the seller’s side, so that buyers saw facts early instead of weeks into a purchase.
| Document | Status | What it did |
|---|---|---|
| Index | Compulsory | Listed everything in the pack |
| Energy Performance Certificate | Compulsory | Rated the home’s energy efficiency |
| Sale statement | Compulsory | Identified the seller and the property being sold |
| Property Information Questionnaire | Compulsory | Recorded the seller’s own answers about the property |
| Home Condition Report | Optional | An inspector’s report on the state of the building |
| Home use and home contents forms | Optional | Told buyers how the home was used and what was included |
| Legal summary and extra searches | Optional | Explained the pack, or added checks such as a mining search |
Some contemporary guides add standard searches and evidence of title to the compulsory list, while later summaries leave them out. That mismatch is a sign the rules shifted between the original design and the version sellers dealt with, so older web pages should be read with some caution.
The most telling change was the survey. Early versions of the idea included one, but the requirement was dropped because many buyers still wanted their own survey anyway. It survived only as the optional Home Condition Report, which left the pack as a set of paperwork rather than an independent check on the building.
Why was it introduced, and why did it vanish so quickly?
The idea first appeared in the 1997 Labour manifesto as a way to reduce problems such as gazumping. It was announced in the 2003 Queen’s Speech and written into the Housing Act 2004, then rolled out in stages during 2007, starting with larger homes in August and reaching every sale in December.
Cost became the main complaint. Before launch, the government’s own estimate for an average family home, including a condition report, was between £600 and £700 plus VAT. In practice, a Which? survey found prices for a three-bedroom semi-detached house ranging from £189 to £413. Sellers paid up front or through deferred payment plans, and some estate agents folded the cost into their fees. One agent quoted by MoneyWeek said that nobody had asked to see a pack since they began on four-bedroom homes.
The end came fast. A week after taking office, the coalition government laid an order suspending the pack with effect from 21 May 2010. Communities Secretary Eric Pickles described the pack as expensive and unnecessary, saying it had added cost and hassle to selling a home. The announcement spoke of sellers no longer paying £250 or £350 plus VAT for a document nobody would read. The suspension was a stopgap pending primary legislation, and the Localism Act 2011 completed the job on 15 January 2012.
What sellers in England and Wales must provide now
Only the EPC remained. The government’s own guidance says you must have one when selling, renting out or building a property. It rates the home from A (most efficient) to G (least efficient) and stays valid for 10 years, during which it can be reused for any sale or letting, until a newer one replaces it.
The sequence matters. A seller must commission an EPC before the property goes on the market, and the agent must be satisfied that one has been ordered before marketing starts. The 2010 order deliberately loosened this: sellers needed to commission a certificate beforehand but did not need to have it in hand. A council page updated in October 2024 adds that the efficiency rating must appear in advertisements and that reasonable efforts should secure the certificate within seven days of first marketing.
Before paying for a new one, check the free government register of energy certificates, because an in-date certificate may already exist for your address. Minimum-rating rules, such as the E threshold, apply to rented homes rather than sales, so a seller simply needs a valid certificate, whatever the grade.
Everything else the pack used to hold is now handled by your conveyancing solicitor, who deals with the legal and search work during the sale, according to the moving-services firm reallymoving. In other words, the work did not disappear in 2010; it went back to starting after an offer is accepted, which is exactly the delay the 2026 reforms are aimed at.
Scotland never had a HIP, but it has the Home Report
Readers in Scotland sometimes search for the HIP by mistake, because their system looks similar and has been in place since 1 December 2008 under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006. A Home Report has three parts: a single survey and valuation by a chartered surveyor, an energy report, and a property questionnaire completed by the seller.
The seller or their agent must give a copy to any interested buyer within nine days of being asked, and local trading standards services handle complaints. Some homes, such as newly built ones sold to the first occupier, are exempt, but an EPC is still required for them. In effect, Scotland kept the independent survey that England dropped, which is why the Home Report is often seen as the sturdier cousin of the HIP.
HIP, EPC, Home Report: sorting out the names
The EPC was one ingredient inside the HIP, not another name for it, and it is the only ingredient that lived on. A seller who says “I have an EPC” does not have a home information pack, and a buyer who asks for “the pack” in England is now asking for something that no longer exists.
Likewise, a Scottish Home Report is not a HIP with a different label. It is a separate legal duty with its own enforcement, and it includes a survey and valuation that the English pack never required.
Is the pack coming back? What the June 2026 roadmap says
Partly, yes, though under a different name. On 19 June 2026 the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government published its home buying and selling reform roadmap, followed by a written ministerial statement on 22 June. The core principle, in the statement’s own framing, is that people should know what they are buying before they commit money and time.
The government says sellers and estate agents will have to prepare a sales pack before a property is listed. According to the statement, it will cover the condition of the home, leasehold costs, the state of the chain, flood risk and planning history. Law firms summarising the roadmap also list tenure, council tax band, EPC rating, title information, building safety details and a floor plan, along with searches and a property condition report. Because the roadmap calls the final contents a matter for further work, treat those longer lists as expected rather than settled.
The timing is the part most easily misunderstood. During 2026 the government is publishing non-statutory guidance and a code of practice for property agents, and it is working with industry on what can be provided voluntarily. Consultations on agent qualifications follow in 2027 and 2028. Legislation to require the packs is planned by the end of this Parliament, which Propertymark reads as 2029, and only “when parliamentary time allows.” A solicitors’ summary dated 22 October 2026 states plainly that mandatory sales packs have not yet been introduced. Binding conditional contracts, which would commit buyers and sellers earlier, are meant to follow only once packs are embedded. The roadmap covers England and Wales, and Scotland is not expected to be affected.
Compared with the old scheme, the new plan has several features the HIP lacked: a required condition report, digital property logbooks, and a route to binding contracts. For years, upfront packs were an industry proposal backed by bodies including RICS, the Law Society and NAEA Propertymark, and the 2026 roadmap is the first time a government has committed to legislating for one. One law firm describes the new approach as sharing the same principles as the HIP while differing in method, which is a fair summary until the actual law is drafted.
What to do if you are selling before any new law arrives
Start with the one requirement that is law today: look up your address on the free government energy certificate register and order a new EPC from an accredited assessor only if there is none or it has expired. Do this before you instruct an agent, since the listing cannot go live properly without it.
After that, the sensible move is the one the government itself is encouraging. Conveyancers have been advised to suggest that sellers instruct them before listing, so title and legal information is ready when a buyer appears. Leasehold sellers should start requests for service charge and management information early, as the government intends to cap fees and response times for that data under the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024. Estate agents already have to include material information in listings under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, and official guidance on this is due later in 2026.
The takeaway
The home information pack failed in England and Wales because buyers did not use it and sellers resented paying for it, not because sellers sharing information early was a bad idea. Whether the 2026 sales pack succeeds where it failed will depend on details not yet written: who pays, who checks accuracy, and how the legal duty is enforced. Until legislation arrives, a valid EPC is the only document a seller must produce, and gathering the rest voluntarily is the best way to get ahead of the change.
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I’m Muhammad Ubaid, founder of YBR Magazine. I research and write detailed guides on America’s National Parks — covering entry fees, permits, best times to visit, and planning tips — using official NPS sources and up-to-date information.
