As part of a Home Information Pack (HIP) and often as part of the conveyancing process, it is possible to include a Home Condition Report, or HCR for short. Initially, the HCR was to be considered a legal requirement of the HIP but the government has changed its stance on this and there is now no legal requirement for include an HCR in your pack. One can be purchased as an optional extra when having your pack produced, however, and may make the sale a more appealing prospect to any potential buyer.

Once produced, an HCR is a legally binding document, that outlines the physical condition of the property for sale. If a problem is found following completion of the sale that was not outlined in the HCR then the seller is liable for any costs incurred in the correction of that problem or damages that ensue because of it. On the other hand, if you are selling a property and an issue is highlighted in the HCR then the buyer legally has no ground to take issue with you over that matter once the sale has completed.

The HCR is not a legal requirement in either the purchase or the sale of a property and it is not a necessary part of the HIP. Costing between approximately £250 or more many sellers consider it to be an expense that they can do without but it does genuinely help to ensure complete transparency in the sale of the property and it will encourage buyers to consider the purchase of your property.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 15th, 2008 at 11:22 am and is filed under About Conveyancing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.