The new regime is supposed to help the Buyer make an informed decision about one of the most important and expensive transactions in life.

Transparency and early disclosure should assist in that aim.  It should also cut down the number of transactions that fail or falter as a result of information disclosed, whether by survey or otherwise, after an offer has been made and accepted.

A buyer will be entitled, subject to certain conditions, to a copy of the HIP for any and every property he is interested in buying.

Either the Seller or the Seller’s estate agent will be the Responsible Person (RP) who must have the HIP and be able to provide copies to a buyer.

The ‘conditions’ are effectively a discretion given to the RP when asked for a copy pack.  The request can be refused if: the seller or seller’s agent believes that the buyer

• cannot afford the property; or
• is not really interested in buying the type of property in question; or
• is not a person to whom the seller would be prepared to sell.

This discretion cannot be used to discriminate in a way that is against the law.

A further condition can be that the buyer must make advance payment for the copy HIP and sign an undertaking to keep the contents of the pack confidential.

The RP has 14 days from the date of the request to provide a copy HIP.

If payment or the signing of a confidentiality agreement has been requested the 14-day period does not start until the last of the conditions has been fulfilled.

If the buyer is refused a copy HIP, there is provision in the Act for the buyer to obtain the information and to require the seller to reimburse the cost. 

However, this right only applies where the property is on the market and the buyer and seller are in negotiations regarding the property.

If a potential buyer is refused a copy pack and believes this is an unfair exercise of the discretions or conditions mentioned above, the only recourse would be to complain to the estate agent’s redress scheme or to the Office of Fair Trading.